Spousal Support
Spousal support is treated differently than child support. The court has more discretion when it comes to spousal support. The courts can choose not to order spousal support at all based on the facts and circumstances of the parties. There are two kinds of spousal support – temporary/pendent lite and permanent. The temporary/pendent lite spousal support is typically initiated at the beginning of the case.
Permanent support typically comes through final judgment and is based on California Family Code section 4320. California Family Code section 4320 are:
- The length of the marriage or domestic partnership,
- What each person needs,
- What each person pays or can pay (including earnings and earning capacity),
- Whether having a job would make it too hard to take care of the child(ren),
- The age and health of both people,
- Debts and property,
- Whether 1 spouse or domestic partner helped the other get an education, training, career, or professional license,
- Whether there was domestic violence in the marriage or domestic partnership,
- Whether 1 spouse's, or domestic partner's, career was affected by unemployment, or by taking care of the children or home, and
- The tax impact of spousal support
