“Alimony” (or “spousal support”) is one of those terms you’ve probably heard all of your life, but you may have assumed that you would never have to deal with the topic personally. But when you find that your marriage is possibly coming to an end, it is a topic that can have a huge impact on your life, whether you’re on the paying end or the receiving end of it (and if you don’t which one you might be, we’ll get into that too). There are a lot of misconceptions and confusing aspects of alimony and spousal support, and below we’ll do our best to clear a few of them up.
So…what is the difference between alimony and spousal support?
Alimony and spousal support refer to the same exact thing: the amount of money that one spouse will pay another on an ongoing basis after a marriage to help provide for the other spouse’s financial well-being after a divorce and help maintain their standard of living. In California, the laws refer to these payments as “spousal support” but you will still often hear people, and even legal professionals, refer to them as “alimony,” but rest assured that spousal support and alimony are the same thing.
If my spouse gets half our property, do I still have to pay spousal support?
Distribution of assets and spousal support are two different things, and so, yes, it may be the case that you are ordered to pay spousal support (or your spouse is ordered to pay you spousal support) even if you split the property. In California, community property is to be divided 50/50 between the spouses, but a judge may still order one spouse to pay spousal support on top of this, and in fact this is quite common.
Is it always the husband that has to pay the wife spousal support?
No! Putting aside the fact that same-sex marriage is legal in California (and, yes, spousal support applies to same-sex divorces as well), the gender of the parties is not a factor in determining who pays spousal support or whether it is awarded at all. Instead, the court will look at the financial situations of both parties after the marriage and may require that the spouse who has a higher income (whether this be a man or a woman) pay spousal support to the other spouse.
Do I have to wait until the divorce is final to get spousal support?
No. A court may award temporary spousal support to be paid for the duration of the time until the divorce is finalized. The amount of temporary spousal support will be based on a calculation involving the income of each spouse.
How long does spousal support go on for?
This varies, but generally courts will award spousal support for a term approximately half the length of the marriage if the marriage was under 10 years. For marriages over 10 years, the spousal support award may be for an indefinite term, or until the person receiving payments remarries.
Do I have to pay taxes on spousal support?
Spousal support is considered income to the person receiving it, so it will be added into a person’s taxable income for the year. For the person paying spousal support, it will be considered an above-the-line deduction, meaning that person can deduct all payments from his or her taxable income.
If you have any other questions about alimony/spousal support or any other aspect of divorce in California, please contact the Law Office of Kelley Finan at 424-255-3797 to schedule a consultation.