In Re the Marriage of Gavron
203 Cal.App.3d 705, 250 Cal. Rptr. 148, 1988 Cal. App. LEXIS 832 (1988)
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Rule of Law:
A party seeking to modify a spousal support order must demonstrate a material change of circumstances since the last order. A supported spouse's failure to seek employment does not constitute a material change of circumstances sufficient to terminate support, particularly after a long-term marriage, unless the original support order included an explicit expectation that the spouse would become self-supporting.
Facts:
- After a 25-year marriage, Husband and Wife separated in 1976.
- During the marriage, Wife worked briefly at a telephone company and in Husband's new dental office, but was primarily a homemaker and unemployed for most of the marriage.
- After the separation, Wife, then in her 50s, held two brief, low-paying jobs in 1982 and 1984, both of which she quit due to the work being too physically demanding.
- Wife suffered from several health problems, including tumors on her feet and arthritis, which she claimed limited her mobility and ability to work.
- At the time of the 1987 hearing, Wife was 57 years old, had not sought vocational training, and was caring for her elderly mother who lived with her.
- Wife's employment status had not changed since spousal support was first ordered in 1979; she was unemployed at that time and remained unemployed.
- Husband's income had increased slightly and his expenses had decreased since the prior support order, though he claimed his expenses still exceeded his income.
Procedural Posture:
- Following the dissolution of the parties' marriage, a trial court ordered Husband to pay Wife $1,100 per month in spousal support on August 3, 1979.
- In May 1981, the trial court denied Husband's request to reduce and then terminate spousal support.
- In June 1986, Husband again filed a motion in the trial court seeking to terminate his spousal support obligation.
- After a hearing, the trial court granted Husband's motion on March 10, 1987, ordering that support payments would cease on August 1, 1987.
- Wife (Appellant) appealed the trial court's order terminating spousal support to the Court of Appeal.
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Issue:
Does a supported spouse's failure to become gainfully employed constitute a material change of circumstances sufficient to justify terminating spousal support, where the original support order was made after a long-term marriage and contained no expectation that the spouse would become self-supporting?
Opinions:
Majority - Boren, J.
No. A supported spouse's failure to become employed does not constitute a material change of circumstances where the original support order did not create an expectation of self-sufficiency. To obtain a modification of a spousal support order, the moving party has the burden to show a material change of circumstances since the prior order. The court found that the Wife's employment situation had not changed since the original 1979 order; she was unemployed then and remained unemployed. The mere passage of time is not, by itself, a sufficient basis for modification. While courts should encourage supported spouses to become self-supporting, a spouse cannot be penalized for failing to do so unless they were given reasonable advance warning of this judicial expectation, which was absent here. Therefore, the trial court erred by shifting the burden to the Wife to justify her continued need for support and abused its discretion by terminating it without the required showing of a material change in circumstances.
Analysis:
This decision reinforces the high bar of the "material change of circumstances" rule for modifying spousal support, particularly in cases involving long-term marriages where one spouse was out of the workforce. It establishes that a trial court cannot retroactively impose a work requirement on a supported spouse where none was contemplated in the original decree. The ruling serves as a strong signal to family law practitioners and judges that any expectation for a supported spouse to become self-sufficient must be made explicit in initial support orders. This precedent protects older, long-term homemakers from having their support suddenly terminated based on the mere passage of time or unstated judicial expectations.
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