What Every Woman Should Know About Spousal Support

Sometimes women are fearful of separation and divorce because they fear that they will not receive spousal support or that they will end up with a minimum wage job, not being able to support themselves or their children. They fear that their ex-husband will then be able to step in and take their children. This is just not the case!
Many of the women that have spoken with me about divorce and separation are afraid that they will be homeless if they get divorced. Often, these are women who gave up their career to stay home and raise their children. Another fear, often coming from husband’s attorney, is that the court should look at the wife’s ability to immediately get a job and support herself.
In assessing a case, sometimes the husband will demand a seek work order and or demand a “vocational assessment.” This vocational assessment ends up costing thousands of dollars and often does not produce the results sought. A vocational assessment is where a trained vocational expert interviews, usually the wife, about her education and work background and then offers their opinion about the wife’s earning potential. These assessments are sometimes in the face of situations where the wife has been a stay at home mother and put the husband through school so that he could advance in his career.
Here are some facts that women should know to address their fears:

• The court does look at your market ability (previous job experience), as one of the elements of the analysis.

Under California Family Law Code Section 4320, the court, “in ordering spousal support, the court shall consider all of the following circumstances.”

• The marketable skills of the supported party.
• The job market for those skills, plus the time and expenses needed to get the education or training to develop those skills or a more marketable skill.
• The extent the supported party’s present or future earning capacity is impaired by unemployment that incurred during the marriage to devote time to domestic duties.
• The extent to which the supported party contributed to the education, training, a career position, or a license by the supporting party.
• The ability of the supporting party to pay spousal support.
• The needs of e4ach party based on the standard of living established during the marriage.
• The obligations and assets, including the separate property, of each party.
• The duration of the marriage.
• And several other factors that best assesses and presented to the court by a competent family law attorney.

You can see there are many factors that the court shall take into consideration and that the odds that the court will order spousal support are extremely likely. Sometimes, even though there is an order of support, the supporting party will not pay. Family Code 3557 allows the court to enforce the support order with contempt and the court will also order payment of attorney fees and sanctions.
If you or someone you know has questions regarding Spousal Support, Child Support, Child Custody, Divorce or Separation in Sacramento and Northern California, contact an Experienced Sacramento Family Law Attorney at Bowman & Associates today to schedule your free initial consultation. Contact us online or by calling (916) 923-2800.

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