Los Angeles Family Law Attorneys & Lawyers
Spousal Support
Spousal support (sometimes referred to as “alimony”) refers to financial maintenance for either spouse designed to provide temporary support or maintain financial status during or after the divorce process.
For divorcing couples, the amount of spousal support they will receive or will need to provide is a major concern. In California, spousal support is calculated based on a number of factors including income, employment, the standard of living during the marriage, the degree to which the spouse requesting support contributed to the ability of the other spouse to provide income, the length of the marriage, and other factors. To navigate within the legal guidelines, ambiguities, special circumstances, and individual concerns, people require the expertise of an experienced attorney.
Our attorneys can get you important answers and resolve your spousal support concerns. At Diamond, Burt & Akhkashian, LLP, we have handled the complexities surrounding spousal support for the years. We can help you settle your situation at whatever stage you’re in.
Spousal support is often awarded at an Order to Show Cause on a temporary basis, where one spouse is unemployed or earning significantly less than the other spouse. Where child support is being paid, the guideline level of child support is first calculated. Then, spousal support is determined.
At the order to show cause hearing, the judge is not concerned about the employability of the requesting spouse. Instead, at this stage, the judge merely wants to preserve the status quo and provide the requesting party with sufficient income for his or her basic needs, consistent with the parties' life style.
In general, where the marriage has lasted more than 10 years, the court will, at the very least require a "reservation of jurisdiction." This means that, even if there is no current order for spousal support, a spouse will be permitted to come back to court at a later date to request spousal support should the need arise. However, where the marriage has lasted more than 10 years, the Court may order “permanent” spousal support based on the issues stated above. Such an order may continue until the receiving spouse remarries or dies. If the marriage is under 10 years, then it is considered a short-tem marriage and a spousal support order will usually only be for one-half of the length of the marriage.
The Internal Revenue Code provides that all spousal support payments are tax deductible by the paying spouse and taxable to the recipient spouse as "ordinary income." For this reason, it is not uncommon for a negotiated settlement to include the payment of a high amount of spousal support, because such a payment results in tax benefit to the paying spouse.
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