Family Law

San Jose Divorce Attorney Talks About Subleasing

By Scott Sagaria

San Jose Divorce Attorney Talks About Subleasing

As many soon to be divorced parties know, a divorce can take a long time. It is common to find a divorce taking almost a year or longer before all the issues are resolved. One of the main issues will always be the family residence. The more equity in the house, the more the parties will fight over it. In the current real estate market, even selling the house may take 6 months or longer. Therefore, it is common for one spouse to continue to live in the house while the divorce or sale of house is pending. What happens when the spouse living in the house decides to sublease one of the rooms to generate some extra cash for bills?

A definitive family law case stated that the rent is considered ?income? for the purposes of child support. Specifically, that means the rent collected must be added to the income of the receiving parent for when calculating child support. Therefore, the spouse who has the house, may end up paying more child support or receiving less if there is the sublease.

The irony of this situation is that a sublease is hardly considered a stable source of income. The sublease may only be in effect for a few months while the house is pending sale but the support order remains in effect until modified. Furthermore, the rental income gives a false impression that the party has a higher ability of income than they really have which may be held against them in future support modifications. Finally, the receiving spouse begins to believe that they are entitled to more support than what is normally possible which will cause resentment if and when the sublease is over and support levels drop.

If you have a question regarding support please contact Sagaria Law at 1-800-941-6730 for a free consultation or visit us at www.sagarialaw.com. Our team of Family Lawyers can assist you with all aspects of your case. We have attorneys in San Mateo, Monterey, Fremont, Salinas, Sacramento and San Jose.

Full post as published by California Family Law Blog on December 08, 2008 (boomark / email).