Alimony/Spousal Support Lawyer in Orange County

As is true with respect to child support, California judges use a formula to calculate an appropriate amount of spousal support. The judge will also consider factors enumerated in California Family Code section 4320.

These include:

• How long was the marriage
• Each person’s needs based on their standard of living during the marriage
• What each person can afford to pay
• Effects of a job on the children, age, and health of each person
• Debts
• Whether one partner helped the other advance his or her education or career
• Existence or nonexistence of domestic violence
• Tax impact of spousal support

With respect to domestic violence by the spouse who is to pay the support, the judge will take into account whether the person who is to receive the support experienced emotional distress.

In determining spousal support, the judge’s goal is to keep each partner close to the standard of living he or she had during the marriage, while putting him or her closer to being self-supporting within a reasonable time period. In determining how long spousal support is appropriate, a judge may look not only at the length of the marriage, but also at the situation of the spouse who is requesting support. The court will look at his or her professional skills, the current job market, need for further education, and whether that spouse devoted him or herself to taking care of the household during the marriage and is therefore impaired for purposes of job-seeking now.

A reasonable period of time for paying spousal support can be half the length of the marriage if the marriage lasted less than 10 years, but variations are left to the judge’s discretion. Long-term marriages may not have an end date to spousal support. Like a child support order, a spousal support order stays in place until the court changes the terms of it, ends it, or when the terms of the order dictate the end. Spousal support can also be terminated if one of the former spouses dies or if the person receiving the support remarries or enters a domestic partnership.

If you fall behind in your spousal support payments, interest charges are added at the rate of 10% per year. This is not a matter of judicial discretion. Further, if a court believes you are able to pay, but not paying, you may be found in “contempt of court,” which can sometimes lead to a jail sentence. Moreover, if you fail to make a significant number of payments, your wages can be garnished to cover the amount in arrears. Spousal support debts cannot be erased by bankruptcy.