California Law

• California courts consider many factors when determining whether to award alimony, how much to award, and for how long a person must support his former spouse. Those factors can be found in California Family Code Section 4320. Some of the factors include the length of the marriage, the needs of each spouse, the ability to pay, child care issues that may interfere with work, debts, circumstances surrounding whether a former spouse helped the other reach career goals while putting her own on hold and the tax implications of spousal support.
  
  

Calculating Spousal Support

• During the divorce process in Califronia, temporary spousal support may be awarded, and each county has its own formula for calculating that amount, which can be found within each court's local court rules. Only at the end of the divorce is a final amount set, and that amount is within the judge's discretion. It is not calculated by a formula.
  
  

Tax Issues

• Both alimony and child support are tax deductible for the spouse making payments. To the contrary, the spouse receiving alimony must include it as a source of income and pay taxes. Thus, it is important for a court to consider a spouse's ability to pay taxes on the amount of alimony awarded.
  
  

Alimony Does Not Last Forever

• Contrary to popular belief, alimony does not last forever. In fact, most instances of alimony are awarded for the sole purpose of rehabilitating the spouse so that he can enter the work force and achieve the standard of living he once knew. For example, a wife who forewent getting an education so she could care for the children while her husband worked would be awarded alimony so she can get an education and get work experience. There are three ways in which spousal support ends: by court order, the paying spouse dies or the benefited spouse remarries or registers a domestic partnership.
  
  

Disclaimer

• Alimony is a complex legal issue without simple answers. An individual experiencing a divorce in California should seek out an experienced family law attorney in his jurisdiction. This article is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice.