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California law and spousal support?

In california a couple must be married for 10 years in order for one to recieve spousal support. What if your together for 7 and living apart for three. During the three years you are reconsealiating to the point of,Family vacations,outings,sex and in fact just celebrated your 10 year anniversary. Everything like a normal couple,just living apart. Never no legal seperation. Does the court see that you where in fact for the 10 years neccesary and award spousal support

Public Comments

1. Well........ first off, it depends on where you live. I can tell you that in Stanislaus County, up in Northern California, you pay alimony no matter how short a time you were married. Its half the time you were married up to 10 years. After 10 years, the payer of the alimony then can be ordered to pay till the payee get remarried.

Trust me on this....... I was married for 40 months and paid 20 months of alimony. There are other factors... how much each person makes, how much each person CAN make...etc. But that's the rule here.

Regarding your question..... it all comes down to what you can prove. Had you filed for legal seperation, that would have put a mark or a timeline for the courts to follow. In the eyes of the law, your seperation wasn't till you hit the 10 year mark. What you and your lawyer are going to have to do is argue that the marriage was essentially over at the 7 year mark and then see if you ex will agree to that. If she doesn't, than you could be in trouble... unless you present evidence... like a dated lease agreement from when you moved out... something that shows that you were off the property for the three years that are in dispute.

On the other hand, your soon to be ex might just agree that you were married for 7 years and not fight that.... but if she gets a good lawyer, you might be in for a long time of it.

Sorry............. wish I had better news..........

2. try here my friend. all the best.