Redwood City, California Family Law Blog

In California, when a couple decides to divorce, a key factor in the settlement or court decision is spousal support, also referred to as alimony. The goal is for the supported spouse to maintain the standard of living that he or she had during the marriage. The spouse who is receiving support also bears certain responsibilities. A contribution or self-support is expected after a certain time-period and it is important for the court to understand how soon this can begin and what level of self-reliance the person can achieve.

If the court needs more information as to the supported spouse's capabilities, an examination conducted by a vocational training counselor might be ordered. In this examination, the person will be assessed to determine the ability to gain employment. Factors will include their skills, work history, age, health and how available employment is at the time. The main idea is to gauge whether the person can get employment so the marital standard of living can be maintained.

Before you got married, you and your spouse entered into a prenuptial agreement that you hoped you would never need. Over the years, you may have forgotten all about it, that is, until recently.

When you realized that your marital relationship was deteriorating, you probably pulled out the document to review it. Once you made up your mind to divorce, you made sure to attach it to the divorce petition in order to avoid a time-consuming and potentially costly battle over the division of your marital property. That's when the trouble began because your future former spouse is asking the court to invalidate your prenuptial agreement.

The theory underlying California's child support system is easy enough to understand: Parents have a legal responsibility to care for their child. This legal duty applies whether the parent lives with the child or not. The state maintains a child support system in the interest of making sure children get the support they need.

In practice, child support can be a lot more complicated. For many paying parents, it can be difficult to come up with the cash every month to comply with a child support order, especially if they have suffered a job loss or other financial setback. For receiving parents, child support can be a source of worry, especially when they aren't getting the resources they need to properly care for their child.

When we discuss the basics of alimony on this blog, we often talk about it as though alimony is always ordered by a court. In theory, this is how alimony is handled under California law. In practice however, an alimony order usually has its origins in an agreement signed by the parties as part of their divorce settlement.

While some issues and some divorces can only be resolved by going to court, it's much more common for the parties to reach an agreement on their own. By settling their issues out of court, they avoid a lot of costs and delay, and generally enjoy a greater sense of control over their outcome. However, even in relatively amicable divorces, it's not easy for the parties to negotiate issues like property division and child custody. For a lot of people, alimony is an especially difficult subject to talk about.