Legal Question in Family Law in California

It is impossible to predict outcomes of legal cases, in fact it is a violation of professional ethics to guaranty a result. Not knowing any facts of your case makes it even more impossible. In general, however, in the absence of something making you an unfit and unsafe parent, neither of you will get sole custody. The current legal rule is that joint physical and legal custody, with a mediated custody schedule is presumed to be in the best interests of children, and you have to provide evidence it is not if you want the court to order something different. Child support is calculated by a mandatory computer program that takes into account net income and custodial time, and spits out a payment that at least theoretically balances the amounts spent on the children in each home per day in each home. So until a custody schedule is determined, there can be no calculation of child support. As for spousal support, that is much more complicated, but if he has been the primary earner and will be going back to work, and with a marriage that is considered "of long duration," it is unlikely that he can avoid spousal support. In fact, if he makes enough more than you, it might be mutually advantageous for him to agree to pay MORE spousal support, which is taxable to you and deductable to him, which would lessen the child support which he can't deduct. Lastly, the pension and 401k funds that were earned during the marriage are community property. The pension will have to be the subject of an order for future payments, and the pension holder will have to be named as a party to the divorce. The 401k can be divided by you opening an IRA and the court issuing an order that your share of the funds be transfered from the 401k to the IRA.

Child support is based upon the amount of time each parent has custody of their minor children and upon the relative incomes of both parents. The less time you have custody, the less child support you will be entitled to. Spousal support is based primarily upon incomes. As your husband is temporarily not working, he probably would not be required to pay any support until he starts working again. Unless your husband stopped making contributions to his pension or 401k before he married you, you would be entitled to a community interest in his retirement accounts. You need to protect your rights. Should you fail to do anything, you could lose your right to claim your share of the pension or your right to spousal support.