Getting Spousal Support In A Marriage That Is Less Than Ten years

It is rewarding when a court rules in your client’s favor and grants them an order of spousal support.

Typically, it can be a challenge to award temporary support to a spouse who has been married for only a few years.  In my case, the marriage was less than a year, but the spouse was only working part-time and needed the additional three hundred dollars to make ends meet.  A temporary support for half the length of the marriage was awarded (6 months) which gave my client time to find other suitable employment.

California law does not really provide any method of how to calculate spousal support for either a temporary or long term.  For short term marriages, the court first needs to consider the needs of the supporting spouse and the ability of the supported spouse to be able to pay.  The duration for a short term marriage is typically half the length of the marriage, so the client needs to be aware that support is not forever or even guaranteed.  There is also an understanding under the law (called a Gravon warning) that both spouses need to become self-supporting (mostly applicable to long term marriages, but I’ve seen them applied in the short-term ones as well), which means that if you are in good health, are able to work and are capable of finding a job that you exercise reasonable efforts to finding employment, because you should not be solely dependent on your ex-spouse’s income.  

The process for support can begin while the divorce case is pending, this would be called a pendente lite support and begins by filing a motion (request for order).  The purpose of this type of support is to make sure the supporting spouse continues to maintain the same standard of living while awaiting for the divorce case to be finalized.  In general, temporary support typically lasts until the issuance of a permanent order of support or upon any other order of the court or agreement of the parties.  

Although there are no mathematical equation to determine temporary support, the court can use certain calculators like the dissomaster to get a ballpark figure.  Others may exercise what is considered the “Santa Clara rule of thumb” to get a rough estimate, which can then be used as a starting point for negotiations.  The Santa Clara rule is as follows:

40% of the supported spouse’s net monthly income - 50% of the supporting spouse’s net monthly income = spousal support.

 In regards to a long term order of support, the court has to address, typically in a evidentiary hearing all applicable factors that you need to be supported by the other spouse.  These factors are outlined under Family Code section 4320 and are outlined below: