Illinois abolished alimony many years ago. Illinois provides for maintenance which is practically the same thing. Maintenance is paid by one spouse to the other spouse so that the other spouse has sufficient income to meet his/her living expenses. Normally maintenance is paid when one spouse makes significantly greater income than another spouse. 

     Generally, there are two (2) types of maintenance, rehabilitative and permanent. Rehabilitative is maintenance that is paid for a specific period of time with the belief that the person needing it will be capable of supporting himself/herself in the standard of living the person had during the marriage before maintenance ends. Permanent maintenance is based on the assumption that the person receiving maintenance will never be able to earn the income to maintain the standard of living that existed during the marriage.

      The main difference between the two is that if permanent maintenance is ordered, then it is presumed that the person in need of maintenance will always need maintenance. It can only be terminated by the party paying the maintenance proving that there has been a change of circumstance and that the spouse receiving maintenance no longer needs it. Rehabilitative maintenance ends at the time stated in the Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage unless the person receiving it files a Petition and proves that the reasons why maintenance was set to end no longer apply. There are no guidelines as to what maintenance should be and judges will give different maintenance awards over a different period of time when faced with the same facts. Factors that will be considered when determining maintenance would be the length of the marriage, the age of the parties and the ability of the lower income spouse to improve him/herself in the future. The property award will be considered and a party might get a greater percentage of the marital estate in order to receive less or no maintenance.

     Parties, unlike a judge, can provide that maintenance cannot be modified.