Alimony & Spousal Support
Alimony or spousal support as it is called in other states is designed to help a spouse maintain the marital standard of living. However, in many instances, it is difficult to achieve this goal since instead of one household there are now two households.
Alimony Orders
During a divorce or legal separation proceeding, the court may make temporary alimony orders and permanent alimony orders. The courts have different criteria for ordering temporary or permanent support. Temporary support orders are made during the pending divorce or legal separation and before the final judgment is entered. In setting temporary spousal support orders, the court’s goal is to maintain the status quo. To achieve this goal, the court can use an alimony calculator whereby the main factor used is the incomes of both parties. For this reason, it is important to obtain the actual incomes of both parties. Similar to child support calculations, the preparation of financial documents and presentation of the spouses’ income to the court is crucial and may have a great impact on the amount of temporary support ordered. The Law Office of Steven L. Fritsch has the knowledge and experience to aggressively represent you regarding your alimony matter.
Long Term Alimony
In setting permanent or long-term alimony, the court cannot use an alimony calculator. Rather, permanent or long-termsupport orders are determined by many factors such as age, health, periods of unemployment, length of the marriage, earning capacity, assets and debts received in the divorce and the marital standard of living. For this reason, a firm understanding of these factors and the ability to present these factors to the court is essential in effective representation of spousal support matters.
Alimony in California
In California, it is the goal that each spouse will be self-supporting. However, the time period when this goal is to be obtained differs in each case. One of the main factors in determining when a spouse will be self-supporting is the length of marriage and whether the marriage is a short term or long term marriage. Generally, the longer the marriage the more time the court will give a spouse to become self-supporting. Another factor the court considers is the earning capacity of the party.
When a change of circumstances occurs, a party may request that the spousal support order be modified up or down. Examples of a change of circumstances may be an increase or decrease in the parties’ incomes or the supported spouse is living with a new partner. Whether the court grants such request is determined by many factors.
Whether the court is determining temporary alimony, permanent alimony or the modification of an order, you will need an attorney that has the legal knowledge and experience to deal with the numerous factors the court looks at in setting support. The Law Office of Steven L. Fritsch will provide you with guidance and aggressively represent your interests in court.
