California Spousal Support Basics

If you’ve just started researching California spousal support basics (or, if you need a refresher), this article will get you started in the right direction. However, if you need specific advice about your individual situation, it’s likely in your best interests to consult with a qualified family law attorney. In the meantime, it will help you to know…

Spousal Support is NOT Automatic

In California, spousal support is not automatic. If you need it, you must ask for it.

After you file your petition for dissolution (initial divorce papers), file your request for temporary spousal support immediately. If you don’t, you may miss out on several months of payments.

In addition, when you consult with your family law attorney, be sure to let him or her know if you want to explore permanent spousal support.

Written by Robert S. Kamin. To read the full article, click here. For more information on family law attorneys, visit our website http://www.jwbrookslaw.com

Florida Gov. Scott vetoes bill that would end permanent alimony in state

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a bill late Wednesday that would have ended permanent alimony in Florida.
Scott vetoed the measure (SB 718) just four hours before the midnight deadline to approve or veto it. The bill automatically would have become law if Scott had done nothing by then.
If it had become law, Florida would have become the fifth state to abolish permanent alimony.
In a letter to Senate President Don Gaetz, Scott commended bill sponsors Ritch Workman in the House and Kelli Stargel in the Senate — both Republicans — and said there are “several forward looking elements of this bill.”
But alimony “represents an important remedy for our judiciary to use in providing support to families as they adjust to changes in life circumstances,” Scott wrote. “As a husband, father and grandfather, I understand the vital importance of family.”

Written by Fox News. To read the full article, click here. For more information on family law attorneys, visit our website http://www.jwbrookslaw.com

Changes in Spousal Support: When and How it’s Done

OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA – Going through a divorce is never a pleasant experience. Being forced to pay alimony to your former spouse can be an unpleasant monthly reminder of the chapter you’ve fought to close. But continuing to pay alimony to a former spouse who’s moved on and is being supported by someone else? That is like rubbing salt in a wound for some.
Recently we’ve had a couple of clients who found themselves in this situation and we’re happy to report that the outcome for our clients was favorable. We successfully reduced the amount of spousal support they were required to pay. But these scenarios raise some common questions, which we’re addressing in this article.

Written by John Griffith. To read the full article, click here. For more information on family law attorneys, visit our website http://www.jwbrookslaw.com

Alimony law in Florida changes drastically under new bill

TALLAHASSEE Florida lawmakers sent Gov. Rick Scott a bill Thursday that would drastically overhaul the state’s alimony laws, reforming payments that opponents say have been critical to ex-spouses — mostly women — who are trying to rebuild their lives after the breakup of their marriage.

SB 718, approved by lawmakers by an 85-31 vote, would end permanent alimony, cap alimony awards based on a person’s income and the length of the marriage and make it easier for an ex-spouse to terminate or lower alimony payments upon retirement. It also gives parents equal custody of any children in the marriage.

Written by Kathleen Haughney and Lisa Huriash. To read the full article, click here. For more information on family law attorneys, visit our website http://www.jwbrookslaw.com

Understanding Spousal Support

In North America, it’s the judge’s place to decide how the marital assets should be divided. By closely examining the assets of each spouse, the judge can determine if spousal support should be paid – and by whom. In some cases, the assets may generate sufficient income that either no spousal support is necessary or it can be reduced.
Each state has guidelines to calculate spousal support. However, they are generally just that – guidelines. Whether or not spousal support should be awarded is up to the discretion of the judge. The judge can also decide the amount of spousal support and the period of time that it should be paid. In Canada, there are no such guidelines: a judge decides whether or not spousal support should be paid, as well as the amount and duration.

Written by Nancy Kurn. To read the full article, click here. For more information on family law attorneys, visit our website http://www.jwbrookslaw.com

Is spousal support based on a gender bias?

Late last month an article in the Huffington Post raised an interesting issue about spousal support. For those who are unfamiliar with family law, spousal support refers to payments made by a higher-earning spouse to a lesser-earning spouse after the marriage ends in divorce.
Also known as alimony, spousal support can be ordered for a temporary or permanent length of time and often depends on several factors, including the length of the marriage and the earning potential of both spouses.
Historically, men have more frequently been ordered to pay spousal support to their ex-wives, but under the law, either spouse can be ordered to pay spousal support to an ex.
As social norms have changed in recent decades, many women now earn more than their husbands and many fathers are choosing to stay at home to raise their children, meaning that more men could be entitled to spousal support. But as the Huffington Post article pointed out, very few men currently ask for spousal support.

Written by Jerald A. Kessler. To read the full article, click here. For more information on family law attorneys, visit our website http://www.jwbrookslaw.com

Alimony: Are The Days Of Longterm Alimony Behind Us?

Is longterm alimony becoming less common?

According to Barry I. Finkel, a family law attorney, there is a nationwide trend against lifelong alimony. Finkel stopped by HuffPost Live on June 18 and explained that the changing economic times may be helping make this form of alimony a thing of the past.

“Mostly you live now in two income homes,” he said. “And the times of a woman sacrificing her career to raise the children are few and far between.”

To hear more of Finkel’s thoughts on the subject, check out the video above (and watch the full segment here), then click through the slideshow below to quiz yourself on the biggest celebrity divorce settlements.

Written by Huffington Post. To read the full article, click here. For more information on family law attorneys, visit our website http://www.jwbrookslaw.com

Alimony Till Death Do Us Part? Nay, Say Some Ex-Spouses

Alimony dates back centuries. The original idea was that once married, a man is responsible for a woman till death. But that notion has shifted in recent decades, as more women have jobs and their own money. Now, a number of states are considering laws to end lifetime alimony.

During his two-decade marriage, Tom Leustek’s wife earned a Ph.D. and landed a job that paid as much as his. He’s a college professor in New Jersey.

But she quit to start her own psychology practice, and her salary plummeted. Then they split. Leustek says he was astonished when a judge ordered him to pay lifetime alimony, despite his wife’s clear earning potential.

“When the judge told me at one point, ‘It’s not fair, Mr. Leustek; it’s the law,’ I decided something had to be done about it,” he says.

Leustek heads New Jersey Alimony Reform, one of a dozen groups taking their cue from Massachusetts. A law that went into effect there last year sets up formulas limiting alimony based on the length of a marriage. Leustek says a similar proposal in New Jersey would also end alimony when the payer reaches retirement age.

Written by Jennifer Ludden. To read the full article, click here. For more information on family law attorneys, visit our website http://www.jwbrookslaw.com

California Spousal Support and Domestic Violence

We all know California is a no-fault state when it comes to divorce. However, you may be surprised that there are certain areas of divorce and family where fault is actually a factor. A domestic violence conviction and its effect on California spousal support is one of those areas.

In a divorce case where a spouse has been convicted of an act of domestic violence against the other spouse within 5 years prior to the dissolution proceeding (typically with a petition for dissolution) being filed or any time after that, there is a “rebuttable presumption” that the convicted spouse should not receive a spousal support award.

Some of you may have said, “wow”.

Wow is right but don’t confuse the word rebuttable with “conclusive.”

Written by B. ROBERT FARZAD. To read the full article, click here. For more information on family law attorneys, visit our website http://www.jwbrookslaw.com

Spousal Support, Does It Ever End

There is a presumption in California Law that a marriage of ten years is deemed to be a long term marriage. In some instances, marriages of shorter duration have also been found to be a marriage of long duration. The significance of this finding is found in Family Code, Section 4336, which states:

“Except on written agreement of the parties to the contrary or a court order terminating spousal support, the court retains jurisdiction indefinitely in a proceeding for dissolution of marriage or for legal separation of the parties where the marriage is of long duration.”

Let us say that the Judgment of Dissolution states that Husband would pay $2,000 per month for a period of sixty months for spousal support and that the support would “terminate forever and no court shall have any jurisdiction to extend this award of spousal support either as to the amount or duration after said date.”

Prior to the expiration of this sixty month term, wife filed an application to extend spousal support beyond the sixty months. Wife argued that the agreement entered into previously implicitly authorized continuing jurisdiction of the court to modify support so long as the request was made before the end of the sixty month time period. As might be expected, the trial court rejected Wife’s argument stating that the agreement was explicit enough in that it did not have jurisdiction to continue the payments.

Written by James P. Reape. To read the full article, click here. For more information on family law attorneys, visit our website http://www.jwbrookslaw.com/