Spousal support different from fl-100

#1

Hi Cristin,
I am the Petitioner in my case (default with agreement). in fl-100 I marked spousal support to my my wife. I am about to file final papers, fl-180 along with others, including fl-343 and MSA. We decided to terminate spousal support by marking,
“The court terminates jurisdiction over the issue of spousal or partner support for the petitioner respondent” in fl-180(4.l.2), fl-343(5) and fl-170(8.c) and writing the same in MSA.

  1. Will this a problem that they will ask me to amend the petition.
  2. Is there any option like, leave the support to future determination only if both parties agrees at that time, as we would prefer that option. I am guessing such language is invalid for MSA.

This is alameda county (Hayward).

Thanks in advance.

#2

If you’ve been married 10+ years, it is VERY difficult to terminate spousal support in Alameda County. This isn’t an issue of the Petition being inconsistent with the ultimate agreement (it would be if this was a true default divorce). The problem is that Alameda takes Family Code Section 4336 seriously, and the requirement for terminating spousal support through a written agreement is very precise.

The “easier” way is to reserve on spousal support, which means that the door is shut (i.e. spousal support is zero), but if circumstances change in the future, someone can ask for it. That doesn’t mean they’ll get it, but it means they can try. A reservation of spousal support is never an issue in a Judgment/MSA.

Termination means the door is shut, locked, and the key is thrown away - it doesn’t matter what happens in the future. No one can ever ask the other for support.

#3

Thanks Cristin. Our marriage is 10+ years. I am thinking of changing to “reserve for the future.” in fl-170 and fl-180 and fl-343. Can we still write to waive the support in MSA or write something like

“Both parties waive any and all rights to spousal support from the other party.
Each party understands that they may never in the future petition any court for
spousal support as a result of this marriage”

The reason we want close spousal support is, I am giving away good amount of stock options as one time payment instead of spousal support, so I want make the spousal support waived or make it very difficult in future. She agree to this now but what if she change the mind later.

#4

Based on what you’ve stated, it seems to me that your judgment/MSA should specifically say something about the stock options in lieu of spousal support in case it becomes an issue in the future.

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