Reducing Support if Spouse is Self Supporting

The extent to which the supported spouse is self-supporting

The California Family Code, as well as several recent appellate cases, emphasize that even in long-term marriages (10 years or more), the supported spouse has a duty to become self-supporting within a reasonable period of time. In cases where the duration of the marriage is less than ten years, a supported spouse is typically expected to be self-supporting within half the length of the marriage.

Toward that end, courts often issue what is called a “Gavron warning” which is basically an admonition by the court to the supported spouse that s/he become self-supporting within a reasonable period of time and that failure to do so may be grounds for reducing or terminating support.

If your California spousal support order does not contain a Gavron warning, we will immediately ask the court to issue one.

If there is such a warning, we will ascertain what efforts your former spouse has made since the date of separation to achieve self-sufficiency. If s/he has not made any good faith efforts to become self-supporting, we will ask the court to terminate spousal support or, in the alternative, order that she immediately undergo a vocational examination in order to ascertain her ability to contribute to her own support.

However, if your former spouse has, in fact, increased her earnings, we will present evidence of this in court and argue that s/he now has a reduced need for support.

Another strategy we might also seriously consider is to take the deposition of your former spouse. Although some lawyers might argue that depositions are too expensive and time consuming, a deposition can be very useful in helping us obtain specific information regarding what efforts your former spouse has made since the time of the divorce to seek employment; what his or her assets are; whether s/he has received an inheritance or has a separate estate that is sufficient to meet the marital standard of living; and other types of relevant information to help us win your case.

Depositions are also valuable because they allow us to assess the demeanor and credibility of the deponent. In addition, in cases where a supported spouse is claiming that s/he has a disability that prevents them from working, a deposition can help us determine whether it is appropriate to send them to a medical examiner in order to assess the veracity of their claims.