Under California law, one spouse may be entitled to receive spousal support from the other spouse. (Family Code § 4300).

The easy cases are those at the end of the spectrum. For example, both parties made the same amount of money and worked during the entire marriage. The court will order no spousal support to either party. At the other extreme is the Husband and Wife of 50 years, where the Wife stayed at home the entire marriage. The court may order Husband to pay Wife half (½) his net income. The problem is the in-between cases.

First, the court breaks spousal support into "temporary" support and "permanent" support. The temporary support is what the court orders at the onset of the divorce until time of trial. The permanent support is what the court orders at the time of trial. The objective of the court for temporary support is "maintaining the status quo", i.e. leave the parties in the same financial level they maintained during marriage.

In cases where there is no child support, the rule of thumb in calculating the temporary spousal support is as follows: 40% of the net income of the payor, minus 50% of the net income of the payee. If the payor nets $2,000 and the payee nets $700, the payor will pay the payee $450 [(.4 x $2,000 = ) $800 minus (.5 x $700 =) $350 is $450].

When the court decides on the permanent spousal support, the court considers the following factors: (1) the marital standard of living; (2) the marketable skills of the parties; (3) the need for retraining or education to obtain marketable skills; (4) the break in employment by Wife to have children; (5) the extent a party contributed to the other party attaining an education, training or career; (6) obligations and assets, to include separate property of each party; (7) the duration of the marriage; (8) the effect of the dependent children on the custodial parent’s ability to work; and, finally (9) the age and health of the parties. (Family Code § 4320).

The bad news to the payor is that if spousal support is due, the rule of thumb in the court over the years has been that spousal support lasts half (½) the length of the marriage. In a marriage of more than 10 years, the court may reserve the jurisdiction to order spousal support indefinitely.

The good news to the payor is that spousal support is deductible to the payor, and income to the payee, i.e. spousal support comes "off the top" of the payor’s gross income, i.e. it is pre-tax dollars.

Second, the court will assume that the supported spouse has decreased needs if he/she is cohabitating. (Family Code § 4320).

Third, if the supporting spouse remarries or lives with someone, the new mate’s income will not be considered in determining or modifying spousal support. (Family Code § 4320).

Parents do not mind paying child support, but spousal support will remain a hot button in divorce.