DIVORCE AFTER 10 YEARS OF MARRIAGE – LONG-TERM SUPPORT VS TEMPORARY

Divorce after 10 years of marriage terminology might be confusing. As we discussed on the page Calculating Alimony in California,  there is temporary and permanent spousal support ( often referred to as alimony). The terms permanent and long-term spousal support is somewhat misleading. Permanent spousal support is what is agreed upon after the divorce is finalized. Temporary spousal support is what is in place during the divorce proceedings before spouses get a final judgment. If you are married less than 10 years, permanent spousal support typically lasts for half the length of the marriage. For example, if you were married for 8 years you would typically receive permanent spousal support for 4 years. If you are married for more than 10 years, there are different rules subject to the discussion below.

Under Family Code 4330 in a judgment of divorce, the court may order a spouse to pay spousal support to the other spouse for any period of time, that the court deems just and reasonable. The same is true for a judgment of legal separation and nullity. The only in nullity cases you have to show that the party for whose support the order is made is found to be a putative spouse.

Under family Code 4339, in some circumstances, the court may order a spouse who is required to pay spousal support to provide reasonable security for payment. It is important to understand that the court’s power to order security is limited by the requirement that the security is reasonable. For example, a lien on a spouse’s whole community property share for an uncertain period of time would be rejected as unreasonable.

Although the spousal support terminates on either spouse’s death in the short term or Divorce after 10 years of marriage, a court has jurisdiction under Family Code 4360, 4339 to order a payer to provide reasonable security for payment in the event of his or her death.

Security for support may be ordered by (1) requiring the payer to maintain life insurance for the benefit of the receiving spouse ; (2) including, as a component of the alimony, an amount sufficient to purchase an annuity for the supported party or to maintain insurance for his or her benefit on the life of the supporting party; or (3) requiring the supporting spouse to establish a trust for the supported party.

DIVORCE AFTER 10 YEARS OF MARRIAGE -Considerations in Spousal Support

0000Wide discretion is vested in the court in setting the amount and duration of permanent spousal support in Divorce after 10 years of marriage. The court must apply, however,  the criteria listed in Family Code 4320

In setting long-term spousal support, unlike temporary support,  the court may not simply use support guideline formulas.

DIVORCE AFTER 10 YEARS OF MARRIAGE – SUPPORT Must Be Based on Marital Standard of Living

The weight given to the marital standard of living will necessarily be substantially less after a short marriage in which the standard was determined by the supporting party’s separate property assets than after a long-term marriage in which the spouses developed a standard of living together. Marriages require sacrifice. They require to give and take and that usually means that one partner sacrifices their ability to have a career in order to maintain domestic duties and raise children, while the other focuses on financially providing and furthering their career. When that is the case, during and after the divorce, the partner who was the financial provider will pay support to the other partner so that they can maintain the standard of living they were accustomed to when married.

Spousal support after 10 years of marriage is often believed to be for the rest of the life or until the remarriage of the receiving partner. However, that is not entirely true nor rarely the case.

One of the important factors in deciding the length of spousal support after 10 years of marriage is the age of the spouses. In the long term marriages most of the time people are older and may be unable to enter the job market.

A decade is a long time to be out of the workforce. When you are married and are responsible for raising children daily and forgoing a career path, it may be difficult to maintain a steady career that can provide the standard of living you were used to when married. This is because times change, businesses advance, and more skills become necessary to compete in the job market. If you aren’t in the workforce to experience the changes as they happen and acquire the skills necessary that come along with that experience, it may become difficult to find work in a field that you were previously once experienced in. Spousal support enables the partner who sacrificed their career during the marriage to maintain independence while working towards financial stability, all while not being forced to downgrade their standard of living drastically to do so.

Divorce After 10 Years of Marriage- factors to consider

It is always preferable when the spouses settle between each other the spousal support after 10 years of marriage. If they cannot come into an agreement on the amount and duration of payments on their own, the court will retain jurisdiction over establishing and modification spousal support.  The court will look at the length of time that it would take for a receiving spouse to gain financial independence based on things like skills, education, job demand, ext. Once this transition period is determined, the court will establish a termination date for the support. However, if the circumstances changes, the court might modify or terminate the support earlier.

Sometimes people misinterpreted the meaning that the court retain indefinite jurisdiction over the divorce after 10 years of marriage. This indefinite jurisdiction is not saying that the spouse is guaranteed indefinite spousal support after 10 years of marriage for their remaining life. Rather, the courts are saying that they have the right to revisit the situation amid circumstances where the spouse is suddenly unable to support themselves financially, even after the transition period from married to single life has expired. So while spousal support payments after 10 years of marriage have payment expiration dates, the courts retain the right to change or eliminate those payments if certain conditions are met.

A marriage is supposed to be equal parts give and take, and a divorce settlement should be the same as well. Rarely, if ever, is spousal support after 10 years of marriage paid out for the rest of the life. The courts understand the burden of returning to self-supportability. They also understand the burden of making additional monthly payments. They do their best to make sure that the standard of living remains equal to what it was in the marriage, as well as making sure that the receiver doesn’t take advantage of the incoming money longer than necessary.

DIVORCE AFTER 10 YEARS OF MARRIAGE – SOCIAL SECURITY AVAILABILITY 

Divorce after 10 years of marriage provides an advantage for the spouse with lower income to receive social security benefit of the spouse with higher income when the receiver will reach a certain age. If the receiver remarriage then this possibility would not exist anymore.

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