Alimony, or spousal support, exists to assist a lower-earning spouse following divorce. Here’s how to calculate spousal support in California.
The different types of spousal support in the State of California include temporary, rehabilitative, permanent, and reimbursement support. The type of alimony issued is determined by the court and can be paid using different methods.
How is Alimony Determined in California?
Types of Spousal Support
California offers a few different types of spousal support including reimbursement, rehabilitative, permanent, and temporary support.
1. Reimbursement Support
Reimbursement support is unique to California. It allows a spouse to request reimbursement support to recoup funds used during the marriage. This is applicable if an individual financially supported the education or career advancement training of their spouse during their marriage. The logic behind reimbursement support is that when spouses work together to improve one spouse’s career outcome, both spouses end up reaping the benefits during the marriage. However, once separated, the spouse with the degree may benefit more than the other spouse, which the court can consider to be unfair.
2. Rehabilitative Support
The most common form of spousal support is rehabilitative support. This type of support occurs in cases where there is a large discrepancy in earnings between both spouses. This is often a consequence of one spouse being the primary earner in the family and the other spouse primarily caring for the children and/or home during the marriage. Rehabilitative spousal support provides the lower-earning spouse with the time necessary to build useful job skills or obtain a degree suitable for a steady career in the future. The goal is to offer enough support so that the lower-earning spouse can eventually support him or herself.
3. Permanent Support
Permanent spousal support is an uncommon form of spousal support. This type of support is usually reserved for when spouses terminate a very long marriage of ten years or longer. Typically, this form of support only happens in the case that one spouse is unable to join the workforce as a consequence of illness or advanced age.
4. Temporary Support
Temporary spousal support is used to assist the lower-earning spouse in covering living expenses throughout the divorce process. Courts typically calculate support using California child support guidelines rather than typical factors considered when determining other forms of spousal support.
Related: Permanent vs. Temporary Spousal Support in California
Factors Used to Determine Final Amount for Spousal Support
In order to determine the final amount to be paid for spousal support, the court considers a range of information about each spouse. In the case of temporary support, the court will use a temporary support calculator to evaluate financial information regarding income, assets, expenses, and debts to decide on an amount.
In the case of the other types of spousal support available in California, the court evaluates a list of factors including earning capacity, needs based on standard of living, age, health, and more (California Family Code Section 4320). To decide on an amount for reimbursement support, the court will take the amount of money spent on a spouse’s education and career into consideration.
How Much is Spousal Support in California?
How Courts Calculate Spousal Support
In the case of temporary spousal support, local courts will typically apply a formula to calculate the amount needed to be paid. This formula varies, as courts located in different California counties may apply different factors while calculating temporary spousal support. To know how temporary spousal support is calculated in a specific county, an individual can check local rules. That being said, judges do not decide on the final amount of spousal support using the same method used to calculate temporary spousal support. Instead, the court considers the factors listed in California Family Code Section 4320.
Lump-sum payments
The court is in charge of deciding how spousal support will be paid. In cases where one spouse possesses a significant amount of separate money and/or property, the court permits the paying spouse to provide a lump-sum payment of cash or property to the receiving spouse. Lump-sum payments are useful as they quickly settle complicated matters by removing the need to make future payments, as well as the possibility of the spouse receiving payment to ask for more support in the future. Lump-sum payments are also beneficial to the recipient spouse as they do not have to stress about the paying spouse failing to provide support in the future. However, lump-sum payments do remove the potential for the award to be altered later on.
Periodic payments (usually monthly)
Another form of payment is periodic payments, which occur on a monthly basis. This type of payment is issued by the court to the employer of the paying spouse, working by directly withdrawing spousal support from the paycheck of the employee. This form of payment is useful in cases where the spouse holds a steady job. If a paying spouse does not follow the court order, the spouse receiving support has the ability to request court intervention to receive their necessary payments.
Can spousal support be changed?
Both spouses are able to ask the court to modify or terminate a support order. This is typically done if a spouse can demonstrate that, since the original order, circumstances have significantly changed. Examples of this include a court ending or modifying support due to the supported spouse becoming self-supporting or the paying spouse being unable to provide payments due to health issues.
Related; Spousal Support FAQs in California
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If you or a loved one have any more questions about calculating spousal support in California, contact us for your free consultation. We can get you in touch with the right divorce attorney for your unique legal situation.