Legal Question in Family Law in California
After a 25 year marriage I agreed to permanent support of my spouse. She is 66 I am 55. She is healthy and not disabled. She was just terminated ( due to her failure) and is not seeking work. She believes that I must increase my support based on her lost income. Can the court requre a healthy woman who worked a majority of our marriage and is equally educated to me (Masters Degree) to seek employement? She states her expenses are now increase to almost 6000, as she moved into a very expensive apartment. Our lifestyle (we are Pastors) has never been high. We never made more then 75,000 a year. Help!
1 Answer from Attorneys
Your ex wife an move for a change in support, but she has to convince a judge that a chane is warranted. The judge must consider the factors in California Family Code section 4320. (To find this code section, click here This is an external link. Click this icon for our external linking policy. and search for Family Code section 4320.)
These factors 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
A change in support is possible, but she has to make a motion before the judge before a change is made.
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