Marriage of Csupo CA2/1

BACKGROUND

Bret and Gabor married in 1999 and separated in 2008.1 They have three children, who were all minors at the time the marriage was dissolved in September 2010. The parties executed a marital settlement agreement (MSA) on August 6, 2010, following a mediation. The MSA was incorporated into a judgment of dissolution filed September 16, 2010. The MSA specified the division of marital property, including real property, and established procedures for calculating spousal support and child support. Both the spousal support and the child support provisions set a base monthly amount of support payments subject to increase if Gabor’s monthly “income” exceeded a threshold amount ($54,050) over the prior quarter.2 The base amount of monthly child support was $9,216 and the base amount of monthly spousal support was $12,789. Under the terms of the MSA, the spousal support obligation expired in November 2011.

Because the parties formerly shared their last name, for the sake of clarity we refer to them by their first names in this opinion. 2 Gabor characterizes this mechanism as an “Ostler-Smith” provision. The term refers to In re Marriage of Ostler & Smith (1990) 223 Cal.App.3d…