From: gazit@duke.cs.duke.edu (Hillel Gazit)
Newsgroups: soc.men
Subject: California High Court Alters Rules on Alimony
Date: 19 Dec 92 07:10:41 GMT
Reply-To: gazit@cs.duke.edu (Hillel)
Organization: Nefolet shel nemushot (Fallout of Wimps)

From the L.A. Times of December 18, 1992:

#                High Court Alters Rules on Alimony
#
#The state Supreme Court held Thursday that a divorced husband cannot be
#forced to work "continuous, substantial overtime" to pay spousal and
#child support to his former wife.
#
#The justices, setting new support guidelines for divorcing spouses, ruled 
#unanimously that such payments must be based on "objectively reasonable
#work regimen."  While support orders based on overtime are not flatly 
#barred, the regular 40-hour week should ordinarily be the standard, the
#justices held.
#
#"An award of support following dissolution of marriage generally should 
#not penalize... a supporting spouse who voluntarily has undertaken an
#extraordinary rigorous work regimen during the marriage , by locking
#that spouse into an excessively onerous work schedule," Justice Ronald
#M. George wrote for the court.
#
#The court ordered a Los Angeles trial judge to recalculate the support
#obligations imposed on Richard O. Simpson, a theater and television
#stagehand who had worked 70 hours a week to help pay the expenses of
#his wife, Barbara J. Simpson, so she could obtain teaching credential.

[BTW if she helps him while he studies, he has to pay her for that.
If he helps her while she studies then he should continue supporting
her in the level she got used to.

Is not Politically Correct justice grand?  H.G.]

#When the couple divorced in 1989, the husband went back to a 40-hours
#week, earning about $26,000 annually compared to the $60,000 or more
#he made annually for three years working overtime.
#
#Simpson said he was suffering from stress working nights and weekends
#and wanted to spend more time with the couple's 10-years old daughter.
#But Superior Court Judge H. George Taylor ruled that Simpson had 
#deliberately reduced his pay to avoid family obligations.
#
#Taylor said Simpson should make support payments based on his earning
#capacity - not his current actual earnings.  The judge fixed Simpson's
#capacity at $60,000 a year and ordered him to begin paying $1,650 a
#month in support, to be reduced later to $1,050 a month.  A state 
#court of Appeal upheld the order in 2-1 decision.

[1. Does it really cost $1,650 per month to support a 10 year old?
 2. Should the wife contribute anything to the support?
 3. 26,000-12*1650=6,200.  How much remains after paying taxes?
    Can a man live in L.A. on such income?
 4. Is not Politically Correct justice grand?
 ]

#The high court held Thursday that the judge was entitled to consider
#Simpson's earning capacity, but should have based the support order
#on what Simpson could earn working reasonable hours.
#
#Michael J. Rand of Encino, Simpson's attorney, said the justices' new
#guidelines would protect divorcing spouses against "involuntary
#servitude."
#
#Cheri A. Kadotani of Downey, the lawyer for Barbara Simpson, was
#disappointed but noted that the high court had not ruled out all
#consideration of overtime.
#
#"I don't think by any means this prevents a court from looking at what
#would be normal overtime in certain jobs," said Kadotani.
#
#George, in his opinion, said that state statutes had not detailed how
#earning capacity should be considered in support awards. 

[That's how fair and equal laws, by Adrienne's standards, look like.]

#In determining what was a reasonable standards in future cases, 
#consideration should be given to the choice of job availability 
#within a particular occupation, the working hours and working
#conditions, he said.
#
#Established employment standards - such as 40-hour week - were 
#"pertinent" but not the only consideration, George wrote.  In
#some occupations, he said, a "normal" workweek would require 
#more than 40 hours and would be reasonable under the circumstances.
#But a regimen "require excessive hours or continuous, substantial
#overtime" should not determine earning capacity, he said.

Liberal and feminists probably lost much more than they ever
suspected when a voters revolt threw Rose Bird and her 
liberal friends out of the California Supreme Court...

Hillel                                          gazit@cs.duke.edu

"I'll take the GOPs over the liberals who would try to tell me how
I may and may not live anyday."  --  Clay Bond
Xref: sparky soc.men:21107 alt.dads-rights:2928 alt.abortion.inequity:5871 alt.child-support:3940