In Re Marriage of Richmond

Opinion

ELKINGTON, J.

Plaintiff Gudrun Richmond (hereafter for convenience, Gudrun) appeals from a portion of an order modifying downward, spousal support from Henry Richmond (for convenience also, Henry), in an action she had commenced to establish a State of New York divorce judgment. The portion of the order at issue provided the following: “Said obligation for spousal support shall continue through the month of September 1981, at which time spousal support shall forever terminate and the jurisdiction of this Court over the issue of spousal support shall terminate, unless prior to September 30, 1981, Petitioner [Gudrun] makes a showing of good cause to extend spousal support beyond that date.”

Henry cross-appeals from a portion of the order immediately preceding that appealed by Gudrun. It recites that: “Effective July 1, 1978, Respondent [Henry] shall pay to Petitioner [Gudrun] as and for spousal support the sum of $200.00 per month, payable on the first day of each month.”

[355]

The evidence before the California superior court, June 23, 1978, may reasonably be condensed to the following:

At the time of its dissolution in New York, January 21, 1976, the marriage of the parties had endured 16 years, and Henry was ordered to pay spousal support of $542 per month to Gudrun, who was unemployed. The marriage had been childless, and Gudrun was then about 44 years old. At the time of the superior court hearing, June 23, 1978, Henry had been unemployed for about two months. His income from unemployment insurance and interest and dividends totaled around $575 per month. His previous income had been “a

gross

of $2,297 per month.” Gudrun had been unemployed throughout the marriage, but she had been able to acquire an advanced education during it. She held a master’s degree in education which she had earned with a “4.0” average. She was also a “Ph.D candidate,” a degree which would be awarded her when she “finished the dissertation,” a project upon which she hadn’t “been able to work.. .for about a year or so.” Her field was “German literature.” She had sought employment, but only “in my field.” During the previous year she had held a teaching fellowship the “net earnings [of which for a time] were $448” monthly. And she had more recently been assigned a summer college course “starting the 19th, which is this week, and I got a call Friday before that they had to close some of its own classes because of Proposition 13.” But on the whole her current income prospects appeared quite small, hardly in excess of a few thousand dollars a year.