California Spousal Support

Spousal Support Calculator

Divorce is bound to pull on your emotions and create difficulties that you may not quite be sure how to handle. One thing’s for sure, though; you don’t have to pay more spousal support than you legally need to. Unfortunately, many people fall victim to paying too much support for too long a period because the either have poor legal counsel or they don’t know their rights.

California state law is very clear on spousal support, within certain guidelines. In fact, the state uses a standard calculation to determine support payments. To help you assess your possible support payments, Dishon & Block provides an on-line Child & Spousal Support Calculator. This client resource is a powerful, proprietary tool to help you determine the money you might owe or be owed as a result of divorce.

What are current California Family Law specs?

To be granted divorce in California you must fulfill certain “residency requirements.” You or your spouse must have resided in the state for a minimum of the previous six months. What’s more, you or your spouse is required to have lived in the country in which you are filing, for at least the previous three months.

While you or your spouse may claim reasons for the filing of divorce, in California you do not have to do this. You can reduce the stress of divorce by claiming, “irreconcilable differences.” In the end, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is that the marriage is ending; only that it end as quickly and painlessly as possible for all parties involved.

The Gavron Warning

One of the most common questions we get asked here at Dishon & Block is whether spousal support must be paid forever. Many people had been married for decades and after divorce were made to pay significant monthly alimony or spousal support payments. We often hear stories of how previous legal counsel told them they would have to pay for years and perhaps even decades with no hope for termination or even reduction.

Well, we’re here to tell you this is not the case. California state law dictates that spousal support is not permanent! In fact, depending on circumstance it might only last a few years. In other cases, it can last for decades; but often the amount paid can be reduced significantly.

Spousal Support: The Big Picture

Divorce is life changing. There’s loss of family, heartache and separation of equity and marital assets. What you’ve been building and creating over your adult life in a moment can get torn to shreds. And when it comes to trying to reassemble your life, you may be faced with paying years—perhaps decades—of spousal support.

How much and for how long? This is the main question we get asked here at Dishon & Block when it comes to spousal support. Also known as “alimony” and “maintenance,” spousal support is a financial obligation many would rather not face. But in California, it is mandated law. It is the obligation for one spouse to provide the other spouse with financial support upon marital separation.

In re Marriage of Howell – A Recent Spousal Support Ruling

Recently, the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, ruled that a 2002 provision of the California Family Code, which provides that premarital waivers of spousal support without independent counsel are unenforceable, could not be applied retroactively to agreements signed before the effective date of the statute.  The court’s ruling was based on the fact that the statute does not merely clarify prior law, but substantially changes it.

Estimate Your Spousal Support

Besides the heavy emotional strain and stress that can be caused by a California divorce, one of the largest and most impactful issues that divorce may have on both parties-is alimony. Alimony, a term that is interchangeable with spousal support, is an agreed upon sum of money that the more fully financially established spouse pays to the other after the couple is divorced. It is a very serious issue that may end up being the largest financial obligation the supporting spouse may incur as part of the divorce. If not handled properly, alimony can last for decades and end up costing the supporting spouse hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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