Legal Question in Family Law in California

I have been married for 15 years. Due to a job loss three years ago, we had to short sale our house 2 years ago. My wife and I each have a 401k with nearly the exact same balances in them. We have a 15 year old daughter and an 11 year old son. We currently rent, we both work full time. I make 100k per year and she make 50k annually. If we divorce what is my estimated liability?


Asked on 8/26/14, 1:55 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

If your only assets are equal 401k balances, and you have no debt, or the debt can easily be divided equally, your property distribution would almost certainly be each keeping your own 401k, with the debt split. If one of you takes more debt, the other would have to make a cash equalizing payment, though if the numbers work out, the one with slightly higher 401k balance would take a little more debt and it would even out.

As for child support, that depends very heavily on custodial time. It is not common, but certainly possible that the higher earning parent would wind up being PAID support by the lower earning parent, if the higher earner had sufficient custodial time to overcome the income imbalance. So, without the percentage of time the children will be with each parent, it is impossible even to begin guessing what the support numbers might be.

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Answered on 8/26/14, 2:20 pm


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