svelte, you didn’t read (or understand) my sentence correctly. A marriage is considered of “long duration” in CA if it has exceeded ten years in length. It has nothing to do with how long SS is paid after a divorce as discussed in your article.
Yes, in CA, the court typically retains jurisdiction over a long-term marriage but, practically speaking, a SS payor can (and, more often than not, does) return to court after half the length of the marriage has elapsed post judgment and successfully greatly reduce or eliminate SS. The purpose of SS payments to a non-disabled spouse is to better equalize living conditions between the parties until the lesser-earning spouse can educate themselves for employment and/or advance to a better paying job. SS was never meant to fully support a (voluntarily or involuntarily) unemployed spouse for life while the payor-spouse works FT on up past retirement age to make his/her SS payments into oblivion. CA is a no-fault divorce state and thus doesn’t have “punitive alimony” to be paid to a “victim” of infidelity, for example. The only time in CA when the amount of a SS award is (temporarily) punitively set is when a the payor-spouse pled guilty to or was recently convicted of domestic violence against the payee spouse and the payee spouse suffered prolonged physical, emotional or mental injuries from that DV incident and also makes less than the payor spouse.
The family law attorneys I’ve seen in action representing higher-earning spouses and/or parents in CA who are getting divorces or are sued for paternity fight tooth and nail for lesser SS and CS and nearly ALWAYS fight for their 50%+ timeshare with the child(ren) and receive it. And, believe me, they don’t mind coming back post-judgment for modifications to everything.
I’m not an attorney but my advice to anyone getting a divorce in CA is to make a private deal with your spouse immediately before or after filing for divorce and be willing to take vehicles, RE, cash, stocks, a portion of your spouse’s retirement account IN LIEU of monthly SS payments, if at all possible. Anything could happen to a SS payor’s job or they could suffer long-term injuries, making a SS order virtually unenforceable.
I’ve known two SS payors here in SD County who inherited paid-off modest homes from a parent, then deeded those homes to their spouses while still married but legally separated so that their estranged spouse was considered a “family member” who was eligible to receive an Interspousal Transfer Deed and thus retain the old assessment and low property taxes, pursuant to a Prop 58 loophole. This enabled the long-term ex-spouse (unrelated to his/her deceased parent-in-law former owner) to live cheaply for life while they worked a low paying job and/or collected their pension. The payee spouse took it in lieu of SS and it was a smart decision for them.
GOOD LUCK getting a permanent spousal support award in CA in a dissolution of marriage of less than ten years duration. A judge MIGHT award temporary support while the case is being litigated and/or until an already-enrolled student SS payee finishes school.
I’ve seen severalfemale judges in this county read the riot act to women domestic litigants before them, giving them short time frames to comply for failure to apply for employment when they didn’t have any of their own income. There’s a lot of misconception out there regarding SS and the presumption that one party be supported for life wholly by SS due to the seemingly constant barrage of sensational stories spewing from the MSM over celebrity divorces. Of course, these long-term marriages have many assets to divvy up, often including multiple real property holdings in two or more countries and royalty payments for life.
These CA divorces aren’t the same animal as Joe and Suzy 6p wage-earner(s) who have a mortgage, car payments and possibly minor children in the mix.
