Maine Family Law Resources

Maine Divorce Process

In Maine, the spouse who files a divorce case is called the Plaintiff, while the person being served is the Defendant. The case starts with the filing and service of a Complaint for Divorce. The Defendant has 21 days after being served to file an Answer and Counterclaim.

Your Maine divorce attorney will have several additional documents that you will need to file with the court. These forms include a Certificate Regarding Real Estate, listing each parcel of real estate you own; a Financial Statement detailing your financial assets, debts, and physical property (e.g., motor vehicles, furniture, etc.); and a detailed monthly budget. If you have children, a Child Support Affidavit detailing your income, childcare costs, recurring medical costs, and health insurance costs will also be included.

In most cases, you will attend mediation to determine whether you can settle without going to trial. In cases with minor children, mediation is required. You can come to a full or partial agreement. You’ll have to go to trial for the items on which you cannot agree.

If you can agree on everything or your divorce is uncontested, you still have to attend a final hearing, but it’s a short hearing to “prove up” the divorce.

Maine Residency Requirements

Maine requires that you satisfy residency requirements to get a divorce. You can file for a divorce in Maine if:

• You are married and have lived in Maine for 6 months or longer;
• You are a Maine resident and were married in Maine;
• You are a Maine resident and were living in Maine when the cause of divorce arose; or
• Your spouse is a Maine resident

Grounds for Divorce in Maine

Maine allows you to file for divorce without alleging grounds – you can simply say the marriage is irretrievably broken. However, you can also allege grounds for divorce, including:

• Extreme cruelty
• Adultery
• Impotence
• Desertion (three continuous years or longer)
• Cruel and abusive treatment
• Drug or alcohol abuse
• Nonsupport
• In certain instances where a court appoints a guardian

Maine Property Division Process

Maine is an equitable distribution state, which means that assets and liabilities are equitably divided instead of divided in half by the rule of community property. Equitable doesn’t necessarily mean an equal 50/50 split because the court is aiming to achieve fairness. The court uses several factors to determine which spouse receives a higher or lower percentage of marital property, including the economic circumstances of each spouse at the time of divorce and the contribution of each spouse to the acquisition of the marital property.

Property that was acquired prior to the marriage, property acquired by gift or inheritance, and property acquired after a decree of legal separation is considered non-marital property, which is usually not divided during a divorce. Additionally, property acquired in exchange for non-marital property is considered to be non-marital.

If you bought a home prior to the divorce and your spouse is not on the deed, it is considered non-marital property, unless you comingle funds or your spouse had an active role during the marriage in managing, preserving, or improving the house. For example, you had a rental home before your marriage. During the marriage, you used marital funds for the upkeep or deposited rent into a joint account, and your spouse helped renovate the home.

In most such cases, the rental income can become marital property, as can the appreciation in value from the renovation. However, if you keep the finances separate and your spouse doesn’t help with maintenance or renovation, you have a better chance of keeping the house and rental income as non-marital property.

Maine Child Custody Laws

Unlike many states, Maine does not use the term “custody.” Instead, Maine courts decide the Parental Rights and Responsibilities and the visitation and contact. Parental Rights and Responsibilities concern decision-making authority, right to access the children’s records, and right to attend appointments (i.e., medical, school conferences). Visitation and contact concern both the physical in-person and virtual contact each parent is allowed to have with the children.

Maine favors Shared Parental Rights and Responsibilities, which requires the parents to consult and make joint decisions on all major aspects of the children’s lives, including medical, religious upbringing, education, and residency. However, in some cases, the court may decide to allocate final decision-making authority to a parent in all areas or a singular topic. For example, if one parent regularly refuses to follow the advice of the children’s pediatrician, the court may allocate final medical decision-making authority to the other parent.

Maine likewise favors substantially equal visitation and contact schedules. To determine a visitation and contact schedule, the court will determine what is in the best interests of the children. To decide this, the court will look at factors such as:

• The children’s ages
• The relationship the children have with each parent
• The preference of the children, if they are old enough to express their preference
• The stability of each parent’s living arrangements
• The ability of each parent to cooperate with the other parent
• The existence of domestic abuse, and how that abuse effects the children’s safety and emotional wellbeing

These are not the only factors the court uses to determine visitation and contact. It will look at any factors it believes are relevant. In some cases, the court could order no contact or supervised visitation, such as in drug or alcohol abuse cases or domestic violence cases.

Maine Child Support

The court uses both parents’ gross incomes to determine child support. Maine adds the basic support obligation, health insurance premiums, recurring medical expenses, and child care costs together to determine the support amount.

The total support obligation is divided between both parents in proportion to their gross incomes. For example, if one spouse makes 60 percent of the household income and the other makes 40 percent, the spouse making 60 percent pays 60 percent of the child support to the primary care provider.

If both parties make equal gross incomes, and both provide “substantially equal care” for the children, then neither parent pays the other child support. However, if both parties share equally as the primary care provider and one spouse makes more than the other, the spouse that makes more usually pays the other spouse the percentage difference.

Maine Spousal Support

Maine does not use the term “alimony”, and instead use support and maintenance paid from one spouse to another is called “spousal support.” Maine statutes state that there is a “rebuttable presumption” that the court cannot order spousal support if the parties were married less than ten years on the date of filing the divorce. The statutes also state that in marriages lasting longer than 10 years but less than 20, there is a rebuttable presumption that spousal support cannot be awarded for longer than one-half the length of the marriage. In marriages lasting 20 years or longer, the rebuttable presumptions go away, and the court can award lifetime spousal support.

Maine allows for the following types of spousal support:

• General Support: may be awarded to provide financial assistance to a spouse with substantially less income potential than the other spouse so that both spouses can maintain a reasonable standard of living after the divorce. For short-term financial aid because of dislocation associated with the divorce or to help the receiving spouse reenter the workforce.
• Transitional Support: may be awarded to provide for a spouse’s transitional needs, including short-term needs resulting from financial hardships associated with the dissolution of the marriage, and reentry or advancement in the work force (such as vocational training and education).
• Reimbursement Support: may be awarded in response to exceptional circumstances, including economic misconduct and the substantial contributions one spouse made towards the education or occupational advancement of the other spouse.
• Nominal Support: may be awarded to preserve the authority of the court to grant spousal support in the future.
• Interim Support: may be awarded to provide for a spouse’s separate support while the divorce is pending.

If spousal support was ordered prior to October 2013, it may be modified if the court determines justice requires and the order does not state spousal support cannot be modified. If spousal support was ordered after October 1, 2013, spousal support may only be modified if there is a substantial change in circumstances. If the court did not order spousal support in the divorce judgment, there can be no award of support in the future.

The statutes do not use a formula to determine support. Instead, the court considers several factors, including the duration of the marriage, the financial ability of the party to pay, the age of the parties, employment history, income history, income potential, education, tax consequences, health and retirement benefits, disabilities/health, economic misconduct or abuse, the standard of living, contributions to the marriage and other factors.

Why Work with Cordell & Cordell

Going through a divorce is a life-changing experience, even for those who have been married for a short time. The changes you’ll go through might include financial changes, living arrangements, child care, contact, and visitation, and more.

Cordell & Cordell can help to work toward protecting your rights and help you receive a fair and reasonable outcome.

Client Reviews

“[My attorney] did everything exceptionally well. She was quick to respond, always available, and always there to answer any questions that I had. She always made herself available to me. She was absolutely great. She was always friendly, professional, and I could not have asked for a better experience overall.” — Daniel H.

“Everything from [my attorney] was dead on. He was an excellent communicator, he did not beat around the bush, and was always very straightforward. He was very professional and goal-oriented and was going to do everything he could to reach a resolution, and that is what he did. I was very pleased with [him].” — Scott C.

Let Us Help with Your Family Law Issues

Whether you are considering filing for divorce or your spouse has served you with divorce, the process can be complicated, whether for those who live paycheck to paycheck or have substantial savings or a business. Changes because of a divorce can affect you for the rest of your life. Contact a family law attorney at Cordell & Cordell if you are considering divorce or have been served with divorce by your spouse so that we can help to work toward protecting your rights.