Legal Question in Family Law in California

"Tied financially" is a broad phrase. With careful planning you can see to it that not one penny of your assets or income ever goes to his child support payments. You can never get married, however, without having the changes that will happen to his tax withholding, deductions, and possibly health insurance rates, etc., affecting the calculation of his support obligations. Even if you do nothing, your income and assets do not count toward what he pays, and only income and assets that wind up in joint accounts can be touched to satisfy a claim for back support if he fails to pay. As long as he pays on time, you do not need to do anything to make sure your income and assets are isolated from his support payments, except as I said, the impact it has on his deductions from his income in the support calculation. If there is reason to think he may default, you should probably consult a family law attorney for some prenuptual planning and maybe a pre-nup agreement.

You will be tied to this obligation one way or the other. First of all, anything CS incurred after marriage will be considered community debt and you will share half of it. If community property cannot pay for it then your separate property will, even if you have a prenup. Second, your income will lower CS somehow since together you will pay more taxes. Finally, your husband-to-be will have to pay, which reduces the amount which he will pay for the daily expenses.

The best recommendation is for you to place your paycheck into an account in your name that he does not have withdrawal rights for.