alimony in CA

What is the name of your state? CA

My ex and I divorced and used a marital settlement agreement. In it he agreed to pay me $500 per month for about three years. Now, that he's realized that I am really not going to let him come home, he says he doesn't want to pay the alimony. He just doesn't want to is his excuse. Can he get the support changed or taken away completely?
I thought everything in a settlement agreement was a done deal except for the fact that visitation and child support are always modifyable. (if that's a word.)

MY RESPONSE: Depends upon the terms of the agreement, and you never quoted from your marital settlement agreement; so, I can't give you an answer. Was the MSA incorporated into the judgment of dissolution?


Yes it was. Here's the quote:

Husband shall pay to wife, as and for spousal support, the sum of $500 per month, payable one half on the first and one half on the fifteenth of each month and ...Spousal support shall continue until the death of either party, wife's remarriage or until further order of the court.

Is a settlement agreement pretty much set in stone though?

mamah said:

MY RESPONSE: Depends upon the terms of the agreement, and you never quoted from your marital settlement agreement; so, I can't give you an answer. Was the MSA incorporated into the judgment of dissolution?


Yes it was. Here's the quote:

Husband shall pay to wife, as and for spousal support, the sum of $500 per month, payable one half on the first and one half on the fifteenth of each month and ...Spousal support shall continue until the death of either party, wife's remarriage or until further order of the court.

Is a settlement agreement pretty much set in stone though?

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My response:

When it comes to law, there are very few theories that are "set in stone" and an exception can usually be found. However, that being said, and assuming continuing spousal support jurisdiction, a spousal support modification may be granted only if the party seeking the modification shows a material change of circumstances since the most recent order. [Marriage of Tydlaska (2003) 114 Cal.App.4th 572, 575, 7 Cal.Rptr.3d 594, 595; Marriage of Bower (2002) 96 Cal.App.4th 893, 899, 117 Cal.Rptr.2d 520, 524-525] A material change of circumstances is required even if the prior amount is established by agreement. [Marriage of McCann (1996) 41 Cal.App.4th 978, 982, 48 Cal.Rptr.2d 864, 865]

Absent a change of circumstances, a motion for modification would be nothing more than an "impermissible collateral attack on a prior final order." [Marriage of Biderman (1992) 5 Cal.App.4th 409, 412-413, 6 Cal.Rptr.2d 791, 792-793]

This standard rule is based on a need for finality. If the rule were otherwise, unhappy spouses could abuse the system by bringing "repeated actions for modification with no burden of showing a justification to change the order." [Marriage of Biderman, supra, 5 Cal.App.4th at 412-413, 6 Cal.Rptr.2d at 792-793]

So, after all things are considered, your ex can't change the support order unless one of the contingencies in your MSA occurs; i.e., re-marriage, death. In your case, the court has retained jurisdiction ("or until further order of the court.") and will enforce a "material changed circumstance" leading to a reduction IF something about your life "materially" changes - winning millions in the lottery, or if your income is greatly enhanced, etc. By and large, however, to change spousal support would be a 90 degree uphill climb for him.

IAAL

Thanks so much for the response. I always told him that if I got married or somehow got rich, he wouldn't have to pay. He'll only be paying for about three years anyway. I am selling the house that we owned during our marriage though and because of all his retirement, most of the equity is going to me, so I will have some cash in hand as opposed to having the equity in the house. He sees that as me having a bunch of money. I've ended up selling so I could have the money to draw from when he doesn't pay me. He's hardly worked the last few months. My child support has been short for a while. I'm assuming that since the equity was mine when we signed the agreement and now it'll just be in cash instead of equity that it wouldn't count as a material change in circumstance; right?


Thanks for your time. I'll be looking up those cases just out of interest.