Can You Get Spousal Support if You Want to Go Back to School?

A Santa Ana spousal support attorney can provide you with advice on how to secure spousal support when your marriage is ending. Depending upon factors like the length of your marriage and any disparity in income, you may be entitled to either temporary alimony or ongoing support. Temporary support is appropriate in situations where you need time to do things like go to school so you can become self supporting. 

Making sure you have the ability to further your education and achieve financial stability after a divorce is very important. You need to make sure you get the right legal help to protect your right to both spousal support and to your fair share of marital property.

A Santa Ana spousal support attorney will assist you in getting the money you need and deserve during the divorce process. Give Brown & Charbonneau, LLP a call today to find out more about how our experienced legal professionals can help you.

Can You Get Spousal Support While You Go Back to School?

Depending upon the length of your marriage, your financial situation, and your ex-spouse’s financial situation, you may be able to get spousal support while you return to school. California Family Code section 4320 provides details on the factors for the court to consider when deciding to award either temporary or permanent support and when deciding how much support is appropriate.

Some of the factors that are considered include: “The marketable skills of the supported party; the job market for those skills; the time and expenses required for the supported party to acquire the appropriate education or training to develop those skills; and the possible need for retraining or education to acquire other, more marketable skills or employment.”

Because your marketable skills are considered by the court, along with training you need to get marketable skills, your desire to go back to school and get training will matter to the court when the judge is deciding both whether to award support and in what amount.

If the court believes your current marketable skills aren’t sufficient to maintain a standard of living similar to that enjoyed during the marriage, but that you can acquire skills by going to school, the court could order your ex to pay support to you while you get your education. The income disparity between you and your ex, as well as your ex-spouse’s ability to pay, will also be factored in when the court makes an assessment on support.

Arguing for Spousal Support in California

As you end your marriage, one of the best things that you can do to make sure you get the money you need to go back to school or to otherwise be financially secure, is to try to negotiate on the issues of your divorce outside of court. If you and your ex can agree on spousal support and on how to divide marital property and custody of your children, the divorce process will be much faster and much cheaper. This means more money for both spouses, so more funds should be available to pay for your education and support you while you go to school.

If you and your ex cannot agree on issues, including in situations where your ex won’t agree to support while you are in school, you will need to go to court and litigate on the matter of spousal support (as well as other points of disagreement). If you have to go to court and have a judge decide on spousal support, you need to make the most convincing case possible for why you should be awarded alimony for the time that it will take you to return to school.

Getting an education after divorce may be the key to becoming self-supporting in the future, so you owe it to yourself to make the best possible arguments for support. An attorney can help.

How a Santa Ana Spousal Support Attorney Can Help You

You cannot afford to take a chance when it comes to your financial security after the end of your marriage. This is especially true if you do not yet have the credentials to work and earn a good living. A Santa Ana spousal support attorney will help you to fight for the maximum support available to you under California law so you can ensure you get the money and education you need.

To find out more about how Brown & Charbonneau, LLP can assist you with spousal support as your marriage is coming to an end, give us a call at (866)237-8129 or contact us online.