Legal Question in Family Law in California
When I seperated from my husband 2 years ago - my income was $7000 gross a month, hs was $1800-2000 a month. We made a personal agreement (not shown in any divorce documents) that I would pay him $1200 a month for 7 years (we had been married for 8 years when we seperated). I filed for divorce, we listed no assets, and the divorce wen tthru by default - he did not respond. On the final judgement it states that the "Court terminated jurisdiction to ward spousal support to the Respondent(my husband).
Our financial situations have changed. My income has dropped to about $3200 a month and the company I am working for may be closing soon. His income is about $3000 a month.
When the agreement was made, he verbally stated that if our situations changed significantly, he would consider revising the amount I agreeed to pay, but would not put that in writing.
My question is how binding is our personal agreement. If I cannot afford to pay it, what are my options?
Thank you for your help
1 Answer from Attorneys
You did not specify whether or not your personal agreement was in writing, nor did you specify when your judgment was entered, so this is a very difficult question to answer. Courts sometimes do uphold written agreements depending on the specific facts of your case. Very rarely are verbal agreements upheld. At the same time, the Court terminated jurisdiction to award spousal support to your husband. If the judgment is past the point where it can be overturned, it's more likely that the Court will look to the terms of the judgment regarding spousal support.
Based on the very limited facts you have presented, it sounds as though you are likely not required to pay spousal support, but there are many other factors to consider. The only way you can obtain a relatively certain answer to this question is to consult with an attorney and discuss all of the details of your issue.
Good luck!
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