CASE HIGHLIGHT: ACKERMAN

Ackerman (2006) 146 Cal.App. 4th 191

A spousal support award "must bear some relationship to the standard of living of the parties during their marriage and not the post-separation standard of living of the supporting spouse.

But equality of postseparation income is not an element of section 4320 in setting spousal support. (See § 4320.) At best, the marital standard of living entitled wife to financial support commensurate with her lifestyle before she and husband separated. Although the law protected her from a precipitous drop in her standard of living after her divorce, it did not guarantee her dollar-for-dollar equality between her postseparation income and husband's. (In re Marriage of Hoffmeister (1987) 191 Cal.App.3d 351, 363.
Ackerman at p. 210.

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CALCULATING AN ESTIMATE OF THE STANDARD OF LIVING THE COMMUNITY HAS GROWN ENTITLED TO:
AVERAGE INCOME OR EXPENSE?

Average income is particularly appropriate where, as here, there was evidence the parties lived beyond their means.

Although a court may properly consider both income and expenses in determining the martial standard of living (Cheriton, supra, 92 Cal.App.4th at p. 307, fn. 23), it may also base it on the family's average income, rather than expenses. (In re Marriage of Weinstein (1991) 4 Cal.App.4th 555, 566 (Weinstein).) Average income is particularly appropriate where, as here, there was evidence the parties lived beyond their means. (Ibid.) Moreover, the court considered her claimed expenses of $50,000 a month but found them unreasonable when compared to the $61,000 gross average a month husband made prior to separation and the $87,500 a month the parties stipulated that husband was making or was capable of making. The trial court was not required to accept wife's assertion of claimed expenses and acted within its broad discretion in determining what it deemed her actual needs and expenses. (Smith, supra, 225 Cal.App.3d at p. 487.)
Ackerman (2006) 146 Cal.App. 4th 191 at p. 207

CONTRIBUTIONS CALCULATED TOWARD GENERATING MONTHLY INCOME SUFFICIENT TO ENABLE CONTINUED LIVING STANDARD COMPARABLE TO THE STANDARD BEFORE SEPARATION:

• Child support
• Spousal support
• Reasonable interest from the assets awarded
• Monthly earned income imputed to supported spouse.

Ackerman at p. 210.