Alimony & Spousal Support : Santa Clarita Divorce : Divorce 661

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Alimony & Spousal Support : Santa Clarita Divorce : Divorce 661

In this video we talk about alimony and spousal support (they mean the same thing) and some examples of how you can use spousal support during a divorce and other examples and types of spousal support from a tax perspective.  The short story is that the money for spousal support does not necessarily have to be actual cash payments to the spouse, but could also include paying for their rent, mortgage, medical bills, etc.

We explain more about other examples of Spousal Support in this short video.

Alimony & Spousal Support : Santa Clarita Divorce : Divorce 661

In this video we talk about alimony and spousal support (they mean the same thing) and some examples of how you can use spousal support during a divorce and other examples and types of spousal support from a tax perspective.  The short story is that the money for spousal support does not necessarily have to be actual cash payments to the spouse, but could also include paying for their rent, mortgage, medical bills, etc.

We explain more about other examples of Spousal Support in this short video.

Spousal Support Deductible If Court Ordered | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Spousal Support Deductible If Court Ordered | Santa Clarita Divorce

In the previous video we talked about whether spousal support is a taxable event. This video talks about the rules that are in place regarding whether you can deduct spousal support. Of course, always refer to you CPA.

Spousal Support Deductible If Court Ordered | Santa Clarita Divorce

In the previous video we talked about whether spousal support is a taxable event. This video talks about the rules that are in place regarding whether you can deduct spousal support. Of course, always refer to you CPA.

Santa Clarita Divorce | Is Spousal Support Received Taxable?

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce | Is Spousal Support Received Taxable?

We get asked all the time if spousal support or alimony is a taxable event.  This video specifically talks about what the IRS says about spousal support you are receiving and if it is money you will have to claim as income and pay taxes on.

Santa Clarita Divorce | Is Spousal Support Received Taxable?

We get asked all the time if spousal support or alimony is a taxable event.  This video specifically talks about what the IRS says about spousal support you are receiving and if it is money you will have to claim as income and pay taxes on.

Santa Clarita Divorce | Modifying Spousal Support Or Child Support

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We get a lot of calls from people who are already divorced who want to modify their spousal support or child support.  Usually the person who is paying wants to lower it and the person receiving wants to increase it.

What normally occurs is that there is a change in circumstances such as a change in income with the parties or with regards to child support, they may be changing the custodial timeshare which affects the child support amount.

Regardless of the reasons, the first thing we always do is run the numbers through the court’s dissomaster software to get a sense of whether or not it makes sense to go through with the modification.

Every once in a while, someone will call and i will run the numbers for them and we determine that if they filed the modification request that it would have actually turned out worse for them.  Sometimes is just does not make sense at that moment to file a modification and usually what we will do is tell them to wait until a certain event has happened and come up with a plan regarding the best time to file the modification.

If you have current orders in place it is always a good idea to have those handy so we can make an apples to apples comparison. We also will need to know what orders from what date we are modifying so the court knows which set of orders we are asking to change.

If you have any questions on whether or not it makes sense to file a modification for spousal support or child support, make sure to give us a call.  We can prepare your motion and declaration, file it with the court and get your court date for you.

Santa Clarita Divorce | Spousal Support Reduced Due To Live In Boyfriend

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We recently handled a case that just went to court so we wanted to discuss the results.

We had a client where their divorce had already finalized and he was paying spousal support.  He learned that his wife had a live-in boyfriend and asked us if he could have his spousal support reduced since she was living with another man.

The question revolved around the fact that when someone who is receiving spousal support either moves in with or has them move in with them, there is a presumption that there is a reduced need for spousal support because they are living in a romantic relationship.

I don’t like to quote the law normally, but because this is something that is not well known, here you go.

Family Code §4323(a)(1) states,
“Except as otherwise agreed to by the parties in writing, there is a rebuttable presumption, affecting the burden of proof, of decreased need for spousal support if the supported party is cohabiting with a nonmarital partner. Upon a determination that circumstances have changes, the court may modify or terminate the spousal support…”

You see that is says rebuttable presumption. This means that all we have to do is make the claim that the other person is living with someone and they have to prove otherwise.

In this particular case we had submitted exhibits that showed their facebook page which showed them “in a relationship” as well as photos of them on vacation, embracing not to mention the guys cars and toys were parked in the driveway which we provided photos of that as well.

The result as good in this case and the Judge ordered that the spousal support be reduced by half based upon the declaration we wrote for our client.

This was not the first time we have drafted a Request For Order for these reasons so we are pretty good at them.

In fact, we draft probably 10 new Request For Orders (motions) to get court dates for people who are representing themselves and everyone usually does pretty good in court.

Santa Clarita Divorce Child & Spousal Support Tax Mistakes

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

Santa Clarita Divorce Child & Spousal Support Tax Mistakes

We are a full service divorce paralegal firm specializing in divorce and serving Santa Clarita. Our full service Santa Clarita Divorce paralegal service takes care of your entire divorce from start to finish. Our Santa Clarita divorce paralegal service is flat-fee based so you don’t have to worry about hourly fees and high costs.

In this video we discuss the mistakes that people make in regards to taxes as it is related to child support and spousal support. For instance, do you know which one you have to report as income and is tax deductible?  There are different ruled for both Child Support and Child Support.

Watch the short video below to learn more about Santa Clarita Divorce Child & Spousal Support Tax Mistakes

Santa Clarita Divorce Child & Spousal Support Tax Mistakes

We are a full service divorce paralegal firm specializing in divorce and serving Santa Clarita. Our full service Santa Clarita Divorce paralegal service takes care of your entire divorce from start to finish. Our Santa Clarita divorce paralegal service is flat-fee based so you don’t have to worry about hourly fees and high costs.

In this video we discuss the mistakes that people make in regards to taxes as it is related to child support and spousal support. For instance, do you know which one you have to report as income and is tax deductible? There are different ruled for both Child Support and Child Support.

Santa Clarita Divorce Child & Spousal Support Tax Mistakes

We are a full service divorce paralegal firm specializing in divorce and serving Santa Clarita. Our full service Santa Clarita Divorce paralegal service takes care of your entire divorce from start to finish. Our Santa Clarita divorce paralegal service is flat-fee based so you don’t have to worry about hourly fees and high costs.

In this video we discuss the mistakes that people make in regards to taxes as it is related to child support and spousal support. For instance, do you know which one you have to report as income and is tax deductible?  There are different ruled for both Child Support and Child Support.

Watch the short video below to learn more about Santa Clarita Divorce Child & Spousal Support Tax Mistakes

011: Should You Get Life Insurance As Part Of Your Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

In this episode, we discuss when you may want to include an agreement in your divorce that a life insurance policy be taken out.

Life insurance could be an integral part of your divorce agreement and I had a great discussion with a life insurance agent.

Make sure to listen to this episode where we discuss in more detail things you should consider when going through a divorce in California to protect the ones you love.

California Spousal Support Information | We Explain Spousal Support Issues in California

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

California Spousal Support Information | We Explain Spousal Support Issues in California

Hi, my name is Tim Blankenship. I’m owner of SCV legal doc assist and our website is divorce661.com.

Today, I wanted to talk to you a little about spousal support.

Spousal support is something you’ll have to address in your marriage, and I just want to cover a couple of topics.

First of all, we can help you with getting a spousal support order if you need one, a temporary order, we can help you prepare a motion during your divorce case and help you get some temporary support.

We also give post-judgment support orders. If you needed to modify a support order, or need to respond to a motion for support that’s something that we can help you with.

But I wanted to talk to you a little bit, just some basics, we’re not attorneys; we’re not a law firm. We’re just here to prepare documents, we do specialize in the divorce process, and we have worked for law firms and for the courts.

So we’re not here to over-complicate things, we’re just here to give you kind of a plain English explanation about how this works.

So, spousal support is determined quite simply by a determination of the income of the parties, the length of the marriage, and the need for support.

Now that can be a very long and complex topic but that’s kind of the essentials. How long were you married, how much the parties make, and is there a need for support.

Now, there are some basic rules to spouse support.

Again, keeping it simple, if you make more than your spouse, you may have to pay spousal support, sounds pretty clear. If your marriage is longer than ten years, the court can retain jurisdiction over spouse support forever.

So, what this says again, I’m not an attorney, so, I just wanted to make that clear, but if you were to look on the internet you’d find that California determines that a long-term marriage is that which is over ten years and the court can retain jurisdiction.

This comes up almost in all of our divorce cases that we filed for folks here. And if it’s over ten years of marriage, the court can retain jurisdiction. Doesn’t mean you have to pay spouse support, or that you’ll get spouse support. There has to be a need, and there has to be some other qualifying factors. But the court retains jurisdiction forever. So, ten years after your divorce potentially, one of the spouse could come back to modify the spouse support.

How spouse support is determined again, length of the marriage, if there’s a need and so forth. And spousal support is determined by what is called a DissoMaster. Courts use this; law firms have access to this. So also, have access to the courts’ software in helping you determine what spousal support would be.

Essentially, we’d take a look at what the parties make, punch it into this software, and spits out a number and lets us know what that numbers are going to be. It just gives you guidelines.

We can just get an idea of what you’re looking at. If you’re going to request for spousal support, you can always bring that if that’s what you decide to do.

Again, we are a full service divorce firm, we are not attorneys but we can help you file your divorce case, get you temporary for spousal support and do everything along the way and everything a law firm would do for you except give you legal advice and represent you in court.

If you’re looking for a cost efficient way of getting spousal support, or getting through the divorce process, please give me a call my name is Tim Blankenship my website is divorce661.com.

You can get tons of information there we have lots of videos on YouTube channel.

What’s best if you’re curious and you have direct questions, just give me a call, everyone’s case is different, so I’d be happy to speak with you, my direct number is 661-281-0266, and we’ll talk to you soon.

Default California Divorce Judgment | Can You Terminate Spousal Support

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

This is a follow up article to our discussion on how to terminate spousal support on long term marriages in California.  That article spoke about how and if you can terminate spousal by agreement in your divorce.

This article will discuss how and if you can terminate spousal support when you have a long term marriage and you are filing your divorce by default.

By default, simply means that your spouse did not file a response.

The Court says that if you have a marriage over 10 years that jurisdiction for spousal support will be indefinite.  We have filed many default divorce judgments in California and the filing party wanted to terminate spousal support despite it being a long term marriage.

At first we tried to submit default judgments per the clients request, knowing that it would get rejected by the court, but sometimes that is the only way you can prove your right.

When this happened, folks going through divorce were stuck having indefinite jurisdiction on spousal support with no other options.

But you do have one last option you can use if you really want to terminate the Courts jurisdiction on spousal support on your long term marriage in California.

There is a form called “Request For Default Setting” and is form FAM-031.  This form is used when you have filed or are filing concurrently a Request To Enter Default.

If you look at the form, you will notice that you can set a default hearing if you are seeking to obtain a judgment based on the fact that you a requesting to terminate spousal support in a marriage over 10 years.

We have begun filing many of these Request For Default Settings lately because our clients don’t want to be stuck with indefinite jurisdiction over spousal support simply because their spouse did not respond.

We have not had any default hearings set yet, but we will report back when our clients begin to go to these hearings and let you now what the Court is asking in order to approve the termination of spousal support on a long term marriage default divorce judgments.

Terminating Spousal Support On Long Term Marriage | California Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

We handle a lot of divorce cases in California every month an so come across a lot of different issues.

If you do your homework, you will learn that California considers any marriage over 10 years to be of long term.  As this pertains to spousal support, the Courts say that long term marriages have indefinite jurisdiction over spousal support.

What this means is that the Court will have the jurisdiction to award Spousal Support indefinitely when the marriage is over 10 years.

So here is the question.

  1. How do you terminate spousal support on long term marriages when the parties agree that they want to do so?

First, I must state that we are not a law office and not attorneys.  We just process a high volume of divorce cases in California. We cannot recite the law or give advice, we are simply explaining what we have come across and how we have handled it.

So for the first question.  How to terminate spousal support on long term marriages when the parties agree.  What we have done is to have both the parties sign a waiver. This is a waiver we drafted and include it in the judgment on the spousal support order part of the judgment.

We simply make sure to cover the reasons spousal support can normally be requested or modified.  We say the parties agree to terminate spousal support and that the order terminating spousal support is non-modifiable by either party for any reason and that regardless of future needs of spousal support or ability to pay spousal support, the court cannot make orders for spousal support.

If the parties stipulate to terminate spousal support on long term marriages, the courts will generally sign off on this.

Depending on the Court, they may reject the judgment.  We have had some Judges state that they will not approve agreements that violate the law.  They have told us that in long term marriages, the Court will retain jurisdiction indefinitely, you remarry or die.

So it appears it will depend on the Judge if you can get them to approve the judgment terminating spousal support on your long term marriage.

If you find your judgment getting rejected for this reason, one last thing you can do is file a motion (Request For Order) to enter judgment.  In the motion you can request the court grant your judgment to terminate spousal support.  You and your spouse can attend the hearing and explain to the court that you are willingly giving up this right.

We would love to hear any feedback from folks who have done this or attorneys who have had other successes.

We are a licensed and bonded legal document preparation firm that specializes in divorce.  We are headquartered in Los Angeles, CA and serve all the Courts in California.