Use of Girlfriend's Income To Request Spousal Support
Question Details: My wife's attorney is attempting to get the court to consider my girlfriends income as part of her request for temporary spousal support. She is also demanding that I stop paying rent to my girlfriend and have my girlfriend support me through free housing and use this money to pay my wife spousal support. Is this legal, will the court utilize this information and is there case law supporting a defense for this?
The family court will not consider your girlfriend's income in setting your obligation to pay temporary spousal support. As long as the "rent" you are paying to your girlfriend is a reasonable amount, i.e., you are sharing expenses equally or in proportion to the number of people living in your girlfriend's household and that amount is about what you would pay if you were living in an apartment on your own, the family court should consider your "rent" as a reasonable living expense. The court cannot require your girlfriend to permit you to live in her home rent free. The normal analysis for spousal maintenance is to look at your income and your wife's income and to equalize those incomes, after tax considerations. If one of you is paying more than half of the joint marital debt, that factor would also be considered.
