Legal Question in Family Law in California

A business that is started and grown during a marriage is community property. It will have to be included in the community property division, which in the case of a business usually involves coming up with a value if the business was sold, and then he either buys you out of half, or you get other property, such as the family home or an investment account of equal value. As for spousal support, you are in for a battle if he chooses to make it one. Without knowing the business structure of the school, I can't tell you exactly how to calculate net, but self employed spouses pretty much always try to inflate the business expenses to pay less support, and the supported spouse and their attorney spend a lot of time and effort deflating the expenses back to reality. Also, unlike child support which is calculated on a rigid formula, spousal support is determined based on a number of factors. In general, though, the income factor is based on what he "takes home." That means gross profits of the business not gross income of the business, and then deductions for his personal income taxes. What is left is his income for support purposes.