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sometimes also called "bridge the gap" support, is a specific kind of short-term support, designed to help a dependent spouse get retrained and back into the workforce. It generally lasts until the recipient is back to work. Generally, that date isn't set in advance-the agreement is that the support payments will stop when the recipient completes a retraining program and becomes employed in the industry. The recipient is responsible for diligently pursuing the training or course of study and then searching for work. The other spouse is responsible for paying the support until that point and a payer who suspects the recipient isn't really trying to complete an education or get work can ask the court to reduce the support amount or set a termination date. The person asking for the modification would have to prove that the other ex-spouse was not working hard enough.

Long-Term or Permanent Support

Permanent support may be granted after long marriages (generally, more than ten years), if the judge concludes that the dependent spouse most likely won't go back into the workforce and will need support indefinitely. Some states don't allow permanent support.

It's odd, but in fact even so-called permanent support does eventually end. Of course, it ends when either the recipient or the payor dies. It also may end when the recipient remarries. And in about half the states, it ends if the recipient begins living with another person in a marriage-like relationship where the couple provides mutual support and shares financial responsibilities.

Reimbursement Support

Reimbursement support is the only type of spousal support that's not completely based on financial need. Instead, it's a way to compensate a spouse who sacrificed education, training, or career advancement during the marriage by taking any old job that would support the family while the other spouse trained for a lucrative professional career. Generally both spouses expected that once the professional spouse was established and earning the anticipated higher salary, the sacrificing spouse would benefit from the higher standard of living and be free to pursue a desirable career. If the marriage ends before that spouse gets any of those expected benefits, reimbursement support rebalances the scales by making the professional spouse return some of what was given during the marriage.

Because it's not tied to need, reimbursement support ends whenever the agreement or court order says it does. Its termination generally isn't tied to an event like the supported spouse getting work or remarrying.

How Courts Set the Amount of Support

Leaving a support decision in the hands of a judge is risky business. This isn't like child support, where the formulas are clear and pretty rigid. In most states, the amount and duration of spousal support payments are entirely up to the judge. Obviously, it's preferable for you and your spouse to keep control of decisions about spousal support. If the two of you can agree to an amount of support and how long it will he paid, then that's what the judge will order. It's the only way to predict what's going to happen.

Only about a dozen states give judges even general guidelines for calculating support. In these states, the judge uses a formula that takes into account the length of the marriage and the spouses' incomes to calculate a starting figure. Then the judge factors in other circumstances to arrive at a final amount and decide how long the payments will last. Here's a look at some of those circumstances.

Need and Ability to Pay

Once the court decides that one spouse is entitled to support, it will try to quantify that need and the other spouse's ability to pay. The judge may take into account:

• how property is being divided in the divorce

• the standard of living during the marriage, and the dependent spouse's ability to maintain that standard in the absence of support

• each spouse's separate income, assets, and obligations

• the length of the marriage (more significant in deciding how long support will last than in determining the