California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed Assembly Bill 1522 to close a loophole in state law that required a victim of spousal abuse to pay support to her attacker after divorce, according to UT San Diego. The bill was inspired by Crystal Harris, a San Diego-area woman who was forced to pay her ex-husband spousal support during the pendency of his criminal trial.
Victims of spousal abuse will no longer be ordered to pay spousal support to former husbands or wives who are convicted of violent crime against them. Judges in California already had the ability to deny spousal support in cases of felony offenses, but now it will be mandatory to deny support in cases where it would have been paid by the injured party.
The bill garnered strong bi-partisan support from California Senators, and we are grateful to Harris for helping bring this loophole to their attention.
