Here is what I projected based on the last few years of tax returns. We usually as a married couple get around $3k, in which he was willing to split that. That would have gave me $1500 whereas my rent is $1200/month for a dingy small apartment. :P Because of Obama's incentives towards education, filing separately (with little income) will give me around $5k. That's enough for about 4 rents! As I've told him...I'm not after his money. Now to be honest, getting alimony/spousal support in California is difficult, costly, and time-consuming. If I really wanted his money out of spite I could drag him to court, demand 50/50 community property, and request alimony for half of the time we were married. They usually don't grant it if the requesting spouse is making a decent living, but I'm not...and he just flat out ran out. Also, because of his gain of citizenship through our marriage it may also appear that he got it and ran. It won't look good in the eyes of most courtrooms. However, I have neither the money to hire a lawyer (if I did I wouldn't be requesting alimony in the first place), nor the desire to take it. I just want to pay rent. I'm comfortable with that.
