Legal Eaze #85 Health Insurance Divorce/New Spouse Child Support/Spousal Support

Title: January 23, 2008

Q: My husband is filing for divorce. He says he will drop me from his health insurance. Can he do that?

A: No, he cannot. On the back of the Summons that will be served on you, along with the Petition for Dissolution, there are specific “Standard Family Law restraining Orders”. One of these orders states as follows: “Starting immediately, you and your spouse are restrained from … changing the beneficiaries of any insurance or other coverage, including life, health, automobile, and disability, held for the benefit of the parties.” This means neither one of you can cancel insurance on the other.

Q: When calculating child support that I will have to pay by ex-wife, is the income of my new wife considered?

A: Family Code Section 4057.5 specifically mandates and precludes the Court from directly considering the new mate’s income in raising or lowering child support absent an “extraordinary case” in which a child would otherwise suffer extreme hardship under the guideline amount. In other words, the Court is precluded from considering your new wife’s income in setting the amount you must pay in child support, unless Dissomaster, the program used by California Courts, dictates such a low amount of child support if you have no income of your own while your new wife enjoys a large income that it would be a considerable hardship on the child to live on such a low child support amount. It is extremely rare for the Court to consider the new spouse’s income to award child support for a child from a previous marriage because Family Code Section 4057.5 prohibits it, except in dire circumstances.

Q: If I divorce my stay-at-home wife of 15 years, how much spousal support should I expect to pay and for how long? She was a teacher before she married me and could easily go back to work.

A: The Dissomaster program is used by the Court to ascertain the amount of spousal support you need to give your wife. Your income is used as a basis. A 15-year marriage is considered a long term marriage, and therefore it is possible that you may have to support your wife until she remarries or dies. It also depends on her age and her health condition. If she is in her sixties and not in very good health, it is unlikely that she will be hired by any school district. If she is in her forties and in excellent health, she will be urged to get a job as soon as possible. If a marriage is less than 10 years in length, often the Court use half the length of the marriage as the gauge to award spousal support. You must realize that circumstances are different in every divorce and the Court must take these differences into consideration.

Maxine de Villefranche has been an attorney for 15 years and is practicing law in Tehachapi and Lancaster. Send your questions via fax at (661)825-8880 or e-mail at maxinedev@msn.com. She will answer your questions to the best of her abilities.