Does My Girlfriend/Wife’s Earnings Count Toward My Support Payments?

I know that most of you will find this shocking (NOT!), but the devil actually tried to increase my husband’s support payments based on MY earnings.

At that time, I was a single mom, working full time to provide the sole support of my THREE children. And, yes, SHE KNEW THIS!!!

And not that it would've changed the outcome, but my (now) husband and I weren't even engaged and, in fact, didn't even live together yet. And, again, it wouldn't have changed anything, but once we did move in together, we maintained separate banking and credit accounts, didn't combine our incomes, and (except for rent and utilities) didn't share expenses.

So how do we know that it tried to pull this? Because, in addition to numerous verbal inquiries made to my husband, it also made at least two written inquiries to its attorney...which it stupidly and eagerly shared with us!

Well, thank goodness for Senate Bill No. 145:

In re the Marriage of LINDA MICHELE and PAUL LOUIS ROMERO, No. E030759, COURT OF APPEAL OF CALIFORNIA, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT, DIVISION TWO, 99 Cal. App. 4th 1436; July 11, 2002, Decided; July 11, 2002, Filed. “In 1993, however, the Legislature … passed Senate Bill No. 145, which added subdivision (b) to Family Code section 4323. That provision, which became effective in 1994, consisted of the following limitation: "The income of a supporting spouse's subsequent spouse or nonmarital partner shall not be considered when determining or modifying spousal support. … In addition to adding subdivision (b) to Family Code section 4323, Senate Bill No. 145 made similar amendments to the child support provisions."

So, to answer your question: "NO, your girlfriend/wife’s earnings can NOT be used in establishing your child and/or spousal support payment amounts"!