A Huntington Beach man makes another attempt to reform California’s maintenance law, this time by campaigning for an election initiative that limits payments to ex-spouses after a divorce or separation to a maximum of five years.
Steve Clark, a software engineer and divorced father, said this week if he had known 25 years ago that he might have to pay child support – also known as spouse’s support – for the rest of his life, he would not have married. He said he was paying his ex-wife Cindy $ 1,000 a month and was expected to do so for the rest of his life based on instructions from a judge.
Under state law, ex-spouses can receive maintenance for a “reasonable period”, which can be half the duration of the marriage or partnership. However, for partnerships lasting 10 years or more, judges may act at their own discretion and not set an end date for spouses to assist.
Clark’s proposed reform initiative aims to “address the most egregious aspect of family law that is currently a potential lifelong obligation for the debtor,” according to the website of his nonprofit CalAlimonyReform.org. He names self-reliance, accountability, rights, roles and entitlements as the principles of his organization.
Clark admits he has an ax to sharpen but says that is the principle behind it. He noted that child support is only required for 18 years.
“It really does reflect a certain percentage of [the] Population in the country that has this concept of free money. They think there is such a thing as free. All it means is someone else will pay for it, ”he said. “People don’t get married and that’s one of the reasons. I think a lot of young people hear horror stories. In this day and age it is really out of date. No need. “
His ex-wife could not be reached for comment.
Clark’s personal experience sparked his first unsuccessful attempt at a reform initiative for the 2016 vote. At that point, Clark’s proposal would only have given those who met certain hardship conditions a year of maintenance.
Clark said the biggest hurdle in his latest proposal is to raise enough money to keep a petitions company that will help collect the more than 623,000 signatures required to get the measure out to voters in 2020. He estimates that he and his group have collected about 2,000 signatures since they started last month.
Should their efforts fall short, Clark said they will keep pushing until people see the injustice.
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