Husband's New Job and Spousal Support

Lukka · #1 04-26-2007, 07:46 AM

My husband and I live in California, been married for 4.5 years and we're getting divorced. My husband use to make about $85,000 a year but about a year ago he changed jobs and is now a financial planner and only made about $45,000 this past year. His job gives him a VERY low salary plus commission but he has the potential to make a lot of money and is gradually building up his business and makes more commission all the time. I make about $38,000 a year. I've interviewed a few lawyers and have heard a couple of contrasting things. (1) I've been told that the court will look at my husbands pay for the past 12-18 months...and that they'll also look at his "potential" to earn. (2) I've also been told that they look at only the past 12 months and don't consider "potential" and that's that. My husbands prior salary of $85k a year and his potential won't be considered....so basically I won't get any spousal support since our salaries were about equal last year. If I'm entitled to spousal support, I want it. What exactly does the law say regarding this? 12months? 18 months? Potential for earnings? Please help.

SthrnSqrl · #2 04-26-2007, 07:50 AM

Your husband/ex makes $45,000, and you make $38,000/year......and you think he should continue to support you, even though you want a divorce? What's all the greed about? You make a good salary. Why the gold-digging?

Baystategirl · #3 04-26-2007, 08:05 AM

Quoting Lukka

My husband and I live in California, been married for 4.5 years and we're getting divorced. My husband use to make about $85,000 a year but about a year ago he changed jobs and is now a financial planner and only made about $45,000 this past year. His job gives him a VERY low salary plus commission but he has the potential to make a lot of money and is gradually building up his business and makes more commission all the time. I make about $38,000 a year. I've interviewed a few lawyers and have heard a couple of contrasting things. (1) I've been told that the court will look at my husbands pay for the past 12-18 months...and that they'll also look at his "potential" to earn. (2) I've also been told that they look at only the past 12 months and don't consider "potential" and that's that. My husbands prior salary of $85k a year and his potential won't be considered....so basically I won't get any spousal support since our salaries were about equal last year. If I'm entitled to spousal support, I want it. What exactly does the law say regarding this? 12months? 18 months? Potential for earnings? Please help.

I highly doubt that you will be awarded SS for such a short term marrage.

aaron · #4 04-26-2007, 10:30 AM

Factors the court will consider are described by statute:

Quoting California Family Code § 4320.

In ordering spousal support under this part, the court shall consider all of the following circumstances:

(a) The extent to which the earning capacity of each party is sufficient to maintain the standard of living established during the marriage, taking into account all of the following:

(1) The marketable skills of the supported party; the job market for those skills; the time and expenses required for the supported party to acquire the appropriate education or training to develop those skills; and the possible need for retraining or education to acquire other, more marketable skills or employment.

(2) The extent to which the supported party's present or future earning capacity is impaired by periods of unemployment that were incurred during the marriage to permit the supported party to devote time to domestic duties.

(b) The extent to which the supported party contributed to the attainment of an education, training, a career position, or a license by the supporting party.

(c) The ability of the supporting party to pay spousal support, taking into account the supporting party's earning capacity, earned and unearned income, assets, and standard of living.

(d) The needs of each party based on the standard of living established during the marriage.

(e) The obligations and assets, including the separate property, of each party.

(f) The duration of the marriage.

(g) The ability of the supported party to engage in gainful employment without unduly interfering with the interests of dependent children in the custody of the party.

(h) The age and health of the parties.

(i) Documented evidence of any history of domestic violence, as defined in Section 6211, between the parties, including, but not limited to, consideration of emotional distress resulting from domestic violence perpetrated against the supported party by the supporting party, and consideration of any history of violence against the supporting party by the supported party.

(j) The immediate and specific tax consequences to each party.

(k) The balance of the hardships to each party.

(l) The goal that the supported party shall be self-supporting within a reasonable period of time. Except in the case of a marriage of long duration as described in Section 4336, a "reasonable period of time" for purposes of this section generally shall be one-half the length of the marriage. However, nothing in this section is intended to limit the court's discretion to order support for a greater or lesser length of time, based on any of the other factors listed in this section, Section 4336, and the circumstances of the parties.

(m) The criminal conviction of an abusive spouse shall be considered in making a reduction or elimination of a spousal support award in accordance with Section 4325.

(n) Any other factors the court determines are just and equitable.

So it's a lot more complicated than, "He used to make more than he does" or "He will make more in the future". Also, the question of whether you agreed to the job switch is likely to be deemed relevant to the equation, as opposed to (for example) his intentionally taking a cut in salary in order to reduce a support obligation.

Lukka · #5 04-26-2007, 10:42 AM

Greed? Gold digging? Hold on there. You don't know anything about my situation. My husband has been diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder/NPD (look it up...it'll freak you out). He's selfish and greedy to an unhealthy extent. We got married, were going to start a family after about a year and I was going to be a stay-at-home mom. Right after we got married, my husband STOPPED sleeping with me ( I mean that in EVERY sense of the word), he's been verbally, emotionally and a little physically abusive. He refused to open a checking account with me because he says "his money is his and it's none of my business what he does w/his money". He refused to help pay for our wedding. (Our wedding was about $25,000. I paid 10k in cash and 15k on credit. We decided to just to pay for it that way and after the wedding we'd both be responsible for the debt and pay it off. After our honeymoon my husband decided he wasn't going to pitch in for it. I'm STILL paying it off. During our marriage we've bought a house, rented out our 2 condos which we each had while we were single, and we've bought 2 rental properties. All of my husband's time, energy and money has gone into himself and properties...all the while telling me "it's for our retirement"...and it's for the "future of our children". He's not interested in retiring w/me and he's not interested in children. It was all a lie. I could go on and on about how greedy my husband is. He hides money from me and lies about everything. In fact, he just told me a few days ago that he let his friend "borrow" $8,000 out of a line of credit that we have. He did this w/out telling me. So, please don't call me a greedy gold digger. I've worked very hard at this relationship. I'm older now and it's almost too late for me to have children. He's taken a lot from me. If I'm entitled to an extra $300 a month, then I want it. It's only fair.

aaron · #6 04-26-2007, 10:44 AM

Sometimes people carry a bit too much of their own personal baggage into their comments on certain subjects. It's best to ignore it.

Lukka · #7 04-26-2007, 10:51 AM

He actually switched jobs w/out even talking to me about it. He mentioned to me that he was interviewing for another job but told me it was straight commission and that it would take a few years to build up a clientele. I asked him not to do it since we have so many bills and also since we were suppose to start a family. He took the job anyways. He just came home one day and told me he accepted the job.

Lukka · #8 04-26-2007, 11:00 AM

Good idea. Thank you.

tybalt · #9 03-17-2008, 10:15 AM

Obviously you have a lot of resentment toward him, and rightfully so. Is your objective to make him pay for what he did to you or to get what you believe is fair? Sometimes it makes sense to cut your losses and move on with your life - especially when the legal costs don't justify the small amount of money you are seeking.

Xena · #10 03-17-2008, 01:58 PM

Quoting tybalt

Obviously you have a lot of resentment toward him, and rightfully so. Is your objective to make him pay for what he did to you or to get what you believe is fair? Sometimes it makes sense to cut your losses and move on with your life - especially when the legal costs don't justify the small amount of money you are seeking.

Please look at the date of a thread before you post. This thread is almost a year old and the OP's situation has most likely changed.