The rest of what we have written about California. Every figure is quoted from California’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Dividing property and money in a California divorce
The money picture for a divorce in California: how property gets divided, what California calls spousal support and how it is decided, whether one spouse can be made to pay the other’s legal fees while the case is running, and — the part nobody publishes — whether California’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
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Every claim is traced to California’s own statute, court rule or revenue department, quoted where the wording carries the meaning. Where we could not verify something, the page says so instead of filling the space. Information, not legal advice — and tax questions in particular need a professional in your state. Corrections: thecusp.app/corrections.
Does California follow the federal alimony rule?
Since 2019, federal law has treated alimony as not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient, for any instrument executed after 31 December 2018. Most people assume every state followed. Most did. Not all.
California never adopted the TCJA’s repeal of the alimony deduction/inclusion for instruments executed Jan 1, 2019 through Dec 31, 2025 — it requires the payer to deduct and the recipient to include alimony on the CA return via a Schedule CA adjustment (pattern (a), an explicit statutory decoupling, enacted as SB 711 (2025-2026), layered on top of California’s separately fixed IRC conformity date under Rev. & Tax. Code § 17024.5). Per the FTB, California will begin conforming to the federal (non-deductible/non-taxable) treatment only for divorce or separation instruments executed on or after January 1, 2026 (or an earlier instrument modified after that date to expressly adopt the new treatment). So as of today, agreements executed 2019-2025 remain decoupled; agreements executed 2026+ will conform.
This is the single most valuable fact on this page and almost nobody publishes it. It means the federal answer is not your answer: alimony that is invisible on your 1040 still moves on your state return.
Source: Cal. Franchise Tax Board, ‘Alimony’ (personal income types); Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 17024.5(a)(1) (IRC conformity date table, specified date currently Jan. 1, 2025 for tax years beginning on/after Jan. 1, 2025); SB 711 (2025-2026 session) · source
Nationally: 36 states follow the federal rule, 9 have no income tax, 4 are decoupled, and 1 — Maine — we could not establish. The full fifty-state table and what each decoupled state does differently.
How property is divided
California is a community property state. Property acquired during the marriage is generally owned by both of you, and the starting point is a division of that community estate rather than an open-ended fairness inquiry.
the court shall … divide the community estate of the parties equally
Source: Cal. Family Code § 2550
Spousal support
California calls it spousal support. Using the state’s own word matters when you are searching for forms or reading a statute.
There is no guideline calculation. A judge weighs the statutory factors and reaches a number.
This is the norm and it is why alimony is the least predictable figure in a divorce. Two judges can reach different answers on the same facts and both be right. It also means the strength of your evidence about income, earning capacity and the standard of living during the marriage does real work.
In ordering spousal support under this part, the court shall consider all of the following circumstances
Source: Cal. Family Code § 4320
Child support
California uses the income shares model — both parents’ incomes go into the calculation, and the result is apportioned between you.
Whichever model applies, this is the most predictable number in your case — there is a formula and a presumption that its output is correct. Deviating from it takes written findings. Run it early; it is free, and it anchors everything else.
Guideline: Cal. Family Code § 4055 (statewide uniform guideline: CS = K[HN – (H%)(TN)])
How California calculates child support, in detail
Who pays for the lawyers
the court shall ensure that each party has access to legal representation … by ordering … one party … to pay to the other party … whatever amount is reasonably necessary for attorney’s fees and for the cost of maintaining or defending the proceeding
Source: Cal. Family Code § 2030(a)(1)
Attorney’s fees and costs within this section may be awarded for legal services rendered or costs incurred before or after the commencement of the proceeding … during the pendency of the proceeding (Fam. Code § 2030(a)(1)-(b)); separately, Fam. Code § 3600 authorizes interim spousal support ‘during the pendency of any proceeding for dissolution of marriage or for legal separation.’
A fee award that only arrives at final judgment is close to worthless to someone who could not afford a lawyer during the case. By then it is over. An interim award is what stops a wealthier spouse winning by attrition.
If you are the lower earner, this is the single most actionable thing on this page. Ask at the first meeting, in these words: “Can we move for an interim award of attorney fees now?” Do not let “we will deal with fees at the end” pass unexamined.
Separately, if custody is contested you may be ordered to pay for a guardian ad litem or a custody evaluator, and the court decides how to split that. What that costs in California, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about California
California is scheduled to stop being a TCJA-alimony outlier: under SB 711 (2025-2026), the deduct/include rule that CA retained since 2019 sunsets for divorce or separation instruments executed on or after January 1, 2026, at which point CA will conform to the federal non-deductible/non-taxable treatment going forward, per the FTB’s ‘Alimony’ guidance page (last updated 01/07/2026).