Spousal maintenance is a form of support paid from one spouse to assist the other spouse with providing for his or her reasonable needs during the pendency of a divorce or legal separation action as well as post-divorce/legal separation. Spousal support can be in the form of money payments or non-monetary benefits such as payment of rent/mortgage, payment of utilities, payment of debts, and the like.
The applicable statute is A.R.S. §25-319 which provides that for a party to be a candidate for an award of spousal support the court must find one of the following:
Only if a party qualifies for an award of spousal maintenance will the Court then address the thirteen factors set forth in Section B of the statute to determine the amount and duration of spousal support.