AB 54

Under current law, in an annulment, divorce, or legal separation, the court may

order one party to pay maintenance (formerly known as alimony) to the other party.

The statutes set out factors that a court must consider in ordering maintenance, such

as the length of the marriage, the educational level of the parties at the time of the

marriage and at the commencement of the action, the age and physical and emotional

health of each party, and the contribution that a party has made to the increased

earning power of the other party. The amount of maintenance and the length of time

that it must be paid are in the court's discretion.

This bill provides, as an overall guiding principle, that maintenance is a

rehabilitative measure to enable the party for whom it is ordered to acquire the

education or skills to become self-supporting and sets out more specific standards

for courts to use in ordering maintenance. Under the bill, a court may not order

maintenance unless the parties have been married for at least 15 years, which

eliminates the availability of maintenance in most annulment actions, and the party

seeking maintenance shows either: 1) that because of the marriage he or she lacks

sufficient resources to provide for his or her minimal, reasonable needs; or 2) that

employment is difficult for the party to obtain or maintain because of a physical or

mental disability that was incurred during the marriage.

The bill, for the most part, retains the factors under current law for the court

to consider when ordering maintenance, but eliminates some of the factors under

current law, such as the tax consequences to each party and any mutual agreements

made before or during marriage concerning any arrangement for the financial

support of the parties. The bill adds as factors to consider all financial resources of

the party seeking maintenance in addition to the property division, the contributions

and sacrifices of each of the parties during the marriage, and the efforts of the party

seeking maintenance to obtain suitable employment before and during the pendency

of the action. The bill provides that, regardless of the court's findings after

considering the other factors, the court may deny maintenance if the party seeking

maintenance engaged in extramarital activities during the marriage or has not made

reasonable efforts to obtain employment or develop skills to become self-supporting.

The bill limits the length of maintenance to the shortest time necessary for the

payee to become employed at a level that provides for minimal, reasonable needs, but

not more than three years, with two exceptions. If the payee contributed to the

education of the payer, maintenance may continue until it equals the amount that

the payee contributed; if the payee became disabled during the marriage,

maintenance may continue for the shorter of: 1) as long as the disability continues

but not past the age at which a person the same age as the payee would be eligible

for unreduced social security benefits; or 2) until the payee receives or is eligible to

receive disability payments or other benefits on account of the disability. The bill

limits the amount of maintenance to the amount necessary to meet minimal,