Legal Question in Family Law in California
Terminate support upon ex-wifes cohabitation
Our judgement was final one year ago, and then modified two months later to change the net property settlement in her favor.(Orange County, CA).
The Spousal support clause says that SS continues ''until wife's remarriage and/or cohabitation with another man''.
Recently, she moved out of her appartment and into her fiance's house that he owns and took up residence, with a room (each) for two of our three daughters. (she has 33% cust) He moved *some* of his belongings to a brother's house about 20 miles away. When the girls are with her, he sleeps at his brother's house.
She is living there, under his roof and admits to substantial lowered expenes because of the move.
Even though they are not married and, for appearances, they play like he has moved out of the house, they both have their furniture and belongings there, have their phones and get their mail there and is for all intents, their primary residence. (she has no other residence)
They have not set a wedding date and I assume that my paying alimony does not motivate them to get married, as they seem to have most of the benefits of marriage anyway. Do you think it is likely that a judge would rule cohabitation and terminate my SS payments?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Terminate support upon ex-wifes cohabitation
Dear Inquirer:
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If you haven't already done so, please visit my
web site at --
http://home.pacbell.net/edbjr/ OR
http://www.CaliforniaDivorceAttorney.com
The site contains quite a bit of general information about California Family Law, Tenants' Rights, and Juvenile Dependencies, and EDD hearings and appeals, as well as information about me (education, experience, et cetera) and my office (location, hours, fees, policies).
NOW, IN RESPONSE TO YOUR INQUIRY --
From your description of the situation it seems that spousal support could and/or should be terminated. You can go back to court for a modification to do so. If you just stop paying based on the provision in your judgment, she could go back to court to get an order to the contrary (resulting in repayment with interest) and perhaps even have you held in contempt. Or she might lose.
Thanks for sharing your interesting inquiry with
us on LawGuru, and good luck with your case.
Re: Terminate support upon ex-wifes cohabitation
From your question it appears you believe you could prove your former wife is cohabiting with another man thus providing legal grounds to terminate spousal support. Contact an attorney to gather sufficient legal evidence and to file papers with the Court to support your position. After you speak with an attorney and gather evidence you will be in a better position to determine whether you should go forward with legal proceedings.
www.PVAttorney.com
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