Spousal support (often informally called “alimony”) is the financial support paid by the higher earning spouse to the lower earning spouse following separation or divorce. Spousal support is different from child support and in some cases both child support and spousal support can be awarded to one spouse.  The primary purpose of long term spousal support is to help the supported spouse become self-sufficient again.  The purpose of short term spousal support is to maintain the marital standard of living during dissolution proceedings.

     The historical concept of marriage is that two people come together to form one financial unit.  When that happens, a division of labor is generally efficient.  More traditionally, one takes care of children while the other takes care of earning money.  This works just fine so long as the family unit remains intact. Without the rules we have in place for division of community property and payment of spousal support, non-working spouses could be left without anything to live on after divorce.

     California wants to protect the non-working spouse so that the welfare system doesn’t have to feed those people.  On the other hand, public policy also detests abuse and does not want to overpay recipient spouses.  For this reason judges have quite a lot of discretion to limit support when appropriate. The point is, California has rules in place that are intended to protect both parties in a marriage and both sides typically think the rules are unfair when they are being enforced. California courts have broad discretion to determine both the amount and the duration of spousal support. The court takes into account a number of factors including the length of the marriage, the living standards of the parties, the marketable skills of each party, and the ability of the supporting spouse to pay support.  Spousal support can be awarded on either a temporary or a permanent basis.

     Parties who are concerned about the payment of spousal support may minimize it by signing a valid premarital agreement (prenup).  Postmarital agreements can also be effective in this area.  Absent those documents, however,  support is virtually guaranteed when there are disparate incomes.