Any property acquired from date of marriage to date of separation is considered community property, and must be divided equally on divorce. If the court is asked to divide the property, it must be an equal division. However, if the parties to a divorce action want property divided unequally, and both agree to this, then the court will not interfere with this agreement. Any debt made or property acquired after date of separation is the separate property of the person who acquired it. The only limitation is that it must have been purchased with earnings after the date of separation.
Child support is granted in California based on schedules.
These schedules take a certain percentage of the noncustodial parent's income for support. No consideration is given to the noncustodial parent for other bills he may pay. However, the court's do take into consideration other children that the noncustodial parent pay support. The calculation is based on the noncustodial parent's take home pay after deducting federal, state and social security taxes, any union dues, medical expenses mandatory retirement paid by the noncustodial spouse. Deductions for credit union payments, garnishments and voluntary retirement systems are not taken into consideration in this formula.