Legal Question in Family Law in California

The court does not differentiate funds in mingled accounts, anymore than you can separate the gin from the tonic in your cocktail. But that is not to say that income is combined for support calculations based on what goes in what account. Support is calculated on what you earn yourself, and not your new wife's income (except for what it does to your tax bracket and deductions) regardless of where it goes when you get paid. It is only for enforcement that joint versus separate accounts matters. As for reporting your bank account balance on the financial forms, the courts require far more disclosure than becomes actually relevant in 99% of cases. For example, if you were working bagging groceries for support purposes, but you and your new wife had massive assets that you were living off of, the court might be allowed to deviate from guideline support. The court and your ex have the right to know if that kind of issue is in play, but of course for all but a very few people it is not.

I agree with Mr. McCormick. The court does not use combined income from a new spouse to calculate support. Your income is what is used to calculate support. It is your income that is put in the "Dissomaster" program to calculate a support order.

With respect to collecting an existing support order, the answer is different. A joint account would almost always be classified as existing community property. A creditor may reach community property to satisfy a premarital debt. The exception to this rule is that the community property earnings of the nondebtor spouse (in this case, your wife) are not liable for your premarital obligations as long as those earnings are held in a deposit account in which the debtor spouse has no right of withdrwawal and those earnings are not commingled with other community property. (Fam. Code, sect. 911.)