worriedsick
New
Reged: 09/11/08
Posts: 4
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Okay to make this easier I'll need to give some background. My boyfriend married his wife then she went to prison 3 days after the wedding. Then after getting out after four months slept with someone else right after he signed the divorce papers in October of last year then left his wife's residence. Now after not hearing from her for an extended period of time she sends him an e-mail stating that she is filing for spousal support. Does she have a case? Does he need to be in California for the hearing? (we live in Washington state). What things will we need to fight this? Any advice would be really welcome. Thank you for taking the time to read through this, and even more if you answer to it.
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allthumbs
Platinum
Reged: 07/12/07
Posts: 473
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Bizarre! So, if I understand correctly, she was a free but married person with him only 3 days before going to prison. And then about 4 months after getting out of prison, committed adultery, the husband found out and left and filed for divorce. Right? How long was she in prison? He may have a case for an annulment, in which case she would not qualify for SS. Unless you are both good at finding legal info online, you may need some legal advice. If your boyfriend does NOT attend the hearing, then the court could very well grant his ex's request. Best to not ignore it. Typically, he will be served with papers requiring him to 1) file an income and expense declaration 2) a response to her motion for spousal support. A hearing date will have been set and he will need to be there. By that time, he should have already filed ALL his legal arguments and documentation supporting his argument against spousal support. He could probably get one or even two continuances since he lives in another state. But if she is determined to file for it, he will need to defend it. However, since he lives in another state, even IF ( which is doubtful ) the court orders some spousal support, there's not much anyone could do if he doesn't pay it. CA court has no authority in Washington and it would be a nightmare trying to get any asst. DA in CA. to attempt a SS collection in another state. They just won't do it. So the odds are, IF he does nothing, and IF she gets awarded some SS, she'll have a heck of a time collecting it.
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ILMom
Gold
Reged: 12/03/07
Posts: 112
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Has he been served with any papers? Did he file for divorce in CA or WA?
I agree it is best to not ignore this but there is no way she is going to get any SS with this short of a marriage. You say that he signed the divorce papers. Did she sign them and were they approved by a judge and then entered?
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JenH03
Platinum
Reged: 02/07/08
Posts: 222
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Are they officially divorced? If so, what does the decee say about spousal support? Many decrees state that both parties agree to waive it forever and if your boyfriend's does, his ex is out of luck. If it says spousal support is reserved, that means it can be revisited at a later time. But as the other posters said, a 3 day marriage, prison and then divorce 4 months later does not make anyone a good candidate for spousal support, but he will still have to go to court if the courts allow the ex to file.
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worriedsick
New
Reged: 09/11/08
Posts: 4
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I just found out that she never filed the papers and they are still married, what should we do now?javascript:void(0)
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Samsung
Platinum
Reged: 06/14/07
Posts: 2122
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Your boyfriend needs to file for divorce himself.
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gigi
Platinum
Reged: 11/06/06
Posts: 5051
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File, serve her, and maybe even file for annulment if that is allowable in California under the circumstances of her spending most of the marriage in prison. Alimony is highly unlikely under the circumstances but you need to make sure he stays on top of the sitaution, not allowing any hearings to take place without his participation (he may be allowed to appear by phone depending upon tghe court rules, but he needs to be up to speed on the court rules to make that happen... some require a request for telephonic appearance ahead of time... some don't allow it at all, some require you initiate the phone call, others will do it, themselves. BUT it's always better if he shows up in person. It's harder for a judge to do the wrong thing to someone who is sitting in front of them in court than if they're two states away on the telephone. And if she gets alimony, there's a whole lot of money potentially at stake, enough to justify the time and effort to travel to court for the bigger hearings.
But first, he needs to contact a lawyer about whether or not an annulment is acceptable in California under these circumstances and start the process. (why annulment? Because it woudl be clear that she couldn't get a dime of his property or a dime of alimony out of him if an annulment was the way it went)
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allthumbs
Platinum
Reged: 07/12/07
Posts: 473
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Ca. Family Code 2210:
2210. A marriage is voidable and may be adjudged a nullity if any
of the following conditions existed at the time of the marriage:
(a) The party who commences the proceeding or on whose behalf the
proceeding is commenced was without the capability of consenting to
the marriage as provided in Section 301 or 302, unless, after
attaining the age of consent, the party for any time freely cohabited
with the other as husband and wife.
(b) The husband or wife of either party was living and the
marriage with that husband or wife was then in force and that husband
or wife (1) was absent and not known to the party commencing the
proceeding to be living for a period of five successive years
immediately preceding the subsequent marriage for which the judgment
of nullity is sought or (2) was generally reputed or believed by the
party commencing the proceeding to be dead at the time the subsequent
marriage was contracted.
(c) Either party was of unsound mind, unless the party of unsound
mind, after coming to reason, freely cohabited with the other as
husband and wife.
(d) The consent of either party was obtained by fraud, unless the
party whose consent was obtained by fraud afterwards, with full
knowledge of the facts constituting the fraud, freely cohabited with
the other as husband or wife.
(e) The consent of either party was obtained by force, unless the
party whose consent was obtained by force afterwards freely cohabited
with the other as husband or wife.
(f) Either party was, at the time of marriage, physically
incapable of entering into the marriage state, and that incapacity
continues, and appears to be incurable.
It could be argued there was fraud if the husband was unaware that his wife would be jailed immediately after getting married. Except when he cohabited with her AFTER her release from prison. He should have had the marriage annulled while she was in prison.
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worriedsick
New
Reged: 09/11/08
Posts: 4
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Thank you so much for all the helpful advice:). He is planing on getting a divorce or annulment but it cost money that we don't have at the moment:(. Hopefully when taxes come in we will have enough to get this sorted out and her out of our lives.
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