SPARC Forums

State : CA

Dear Socrateaser,
My wife and I are going through divorce.
We reached a settlement and came to an agreement that I will pay her spousal support for one half of the length of the marraige. Marraige was 21 months so I will pay for 10.5 months.

In the agreement we divided the assests 50-50.

There was also a paragraph in the settlement that stated that "After the spousal support period is over she will not have the ability to go to the court and ask for more spousal support"

However she refused to sign on that paragraph.
My concern is that even after I pay her spousal support for 10.5 months :

1) Can she go to the court and raise the issue for more spousal support?

2) Will the court award her spousal support indefinitely. What are the chances of her getting it even though our marriage lasted only 21 months?

Thanks,
Sadboy

>1) Can she go to the court and raise the issue for more
>spousal support?

In CA, the law strongly favors the court retaining jurisdiciton to award spousal support, unless the stipulated waiver of support states (1) that any award of support made before a date certain terminates on that date certain, and (2) the court's jurisdiction to award additional support or to extend existing support is also terminated on that same date certain. The stipulated judgment must be absolutely unequivocal, any ambiguity will be interpreted in favor of the supported spouse.

>2) Will the court award her spousal support indefinitely. What
>are the chances of her getting it even though our marriage
>lasted only 21 months?

99.99999%, unless she has earning capacity substantially the same or greater than you.