Divorce Alimony in California
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Duration of Divorce California Alimony
- This is generally decided on the basis of duration of the marital life
- The thumb rule, which is followed by practitioners, is that alimony should suffice for 50 percent of the duration of the marriage (this is specifically applicable when the marital life is less than 10 years)
- A legislator in this state has endorsed a statute as per which a marital life of the duration of 10 years is termed as a lengthy marriage. In case of such a marriage, if the court orders permanent support, then it is an misuse of the discretion of the court to determine a future termination date
- The courts in this state have a tendency to disfavor lifetime support
- The intention of the court is that the recipient of alimony should become self supporting within a reasonable period of time. Unless the marriage is of long duration, this reasonable period is calculated as 50 percent of the duration of the marriage. However, the court might consider the factors listed in Section 4336 as well as the circumstances of the spouses and accordingly lessen or enhance this period
Amount of Divorce California Alimony
The court takes into account the following factors while deciding the amount of alimony.
- Whether an abusive spouse has been criminally convicted in the past? If yes, then as per Section 4325, there is a reduction or elimination of alimony
- How to balance the hardships of both spouses?
- The immediate and specific tax repercussions for both spouses
- Are there any documents that prove a past record of domestic violence (as mentioned in Section 6211)? This issue of domestic violence includes but is not limited to the following points
- Has the partner seeking alimony acted in a violent way against the partner (who would be the payer)?
- Has the partner seeking alimony suffered from emotional distress due to domestic violence by the partner (i.e. the future payer)?
- The health and age of both spouses
- Assume that there are dependent children in custody of the partner seeking alimony. Is this partner capable of taking active part in gainful employment without unduly hampering the interests of the children?
- The length of marital life
- The assets and obligations of both partners, inclusive of separate property
- The standard of life to which the partners were accustomed in marital life and on the basis of this, what are the requirements of each spouse?
- The capacity of the partner to disburse alimony, considering the following
- The earning capacity
- Unearned and earned assets, income and standard of living
- How the partner (from whom alimony is expected) has been helped by the partner requesting alimony to acquire education, training, a career position and / or a license?
- If the earning ability of each spouse is enough to retain the standard of living experienced during marital life, considering the following
- The skills of the recipient to get a job and the market for those skills. The time and money necessary for this recipient to attain proper education and training for these skills
- During the marital life, the partner seeking alimony may have devoted time to domestic duties. Has this resulted in periods of unemployment of this partner? Moreover, has it hampered the present and future earning capacity of this partner?
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