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Spousal Support Question

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M

MaryL

Guest
I am going through a divorce in California. My ex has recently quit his job so that he will not be required to pay spousal support or any medical benifits. What if any options do I have to try to collect, can I wait till he gets another job months from now, or can the court order him to still provide medical for me? He is divorcing me, yet I am paying for the divorce, this is hard, because I am a student, who supported him while he got his career going, now that it's my turn to start an education, I have no support.
HELP!
 


I AM ALWAYS LIABLE

Senior Member
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MaryL:
I am going through a divorce in California. My ex has recently quit his job so that he will not be required to pay spousal support or any medical benifits. What if any options do I have to try to collect, can I wait till he gets another job months from now, or can the court order him to still provide medical for me? He is divorcing me, yet I am paying for the divorce, this is hard, because I am a student, who supported him while he got his career going, now that it's my turn to start an education, I have no support.
HELP!
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


My response:

It makes no difference that he has quit his job "so that he will not be required to pay spousal support or any medical benifits."

Historically, California courts limited consideration of a parent's earning capacity (in lieu of actual income) to the narrow situation where the record demonstrated the parent was deliberately shirking family financial responsibilities by intentionally suppressing income or refusing to accept or seek gainful employment (so-called "Philbin rule"). [Philbin v. Philbin (1971) 19 Cal.App.3d 115, 119, 121, 96 Cal.Rptr. 408, 411-412; Marriage of Williams (1984) 155 Cal.App.3d 57, 62, 202 Cal.Rptr. 10, 14; see Marriage of Simpson (1992) 4 Cal.4th 225, 232, 14 Cal.Rptr.2d 411, 415]

Thus, following the "Philbin" approach, so long as consistent with the obligor's age, health, skills, etc. and employment opportunities, support could properly be set on the basis of what the obligor was realistically capable of earning.

In other words, the court will "impute" a certain "level" of earning capacity to your husband, and make an order of support based upon that, which will, in turn, put the burden back on him to obtain a job, and to keep it so that he will not be held in contempt of court for nonpayment of support.

Obviously, he's not the first soon-to-be-ex who has tried this gambit - - nor will he be the last. A lot of spouses are under a misbelief that if they quit their jobs, or take lower paying jobs, that they can shirk their responsibilities. Wrong. But, he'll learn, soon enough, that it doesn't work - - only he will (work, that is).

Good luck.

IAAL


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