Page 23 - November 2018

than nine years, the length of the marriage is multiplied by 0.40; for marriages of 10 years or more but less than 14, the length of the marriage is multiplied by 0.60; for marriages of more than 15 years but less than 19 years, the length of marriage is multiplied by 0.80. If the marriage lasted 20 or more years, the court is instructed to order maintenance for a term equaling the length of the marriage or, alterna- tively, permanent maintenance.
Under the proposed law for 2018, the duration of main- tenance payments will have a calculation for every year of marriage, as opposed to calculating the duration of the marriage in groups of years. This means that there will be different multipliers for marriages of one year, two years, three years, and so on. If the marriage lasted 20 or more years, the court is instructed to order maintenance for a term equaling the length of the marriage or, alternatively, for an indefinite term.
Depending on the length of your marriage, your main- tenance duration may be shorter under the new 2018 law than it would have been under the 2015 law. The main- tenance duration is not different if your marriage lasted less than five years, if your marriage lasted 20 years or lon- ger, or if your marriage length happens to fall at the end of one of the 2015 law’s five-year increments. However, for all other marriage lengths, the required maintenance du- ration will most likely be shorter under the 2018 law than under the 2015 law. d
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ NOVEMBER 2017 23