TMZ reports that Nichole Turley of Swahili Blonde filed for divorce in May from her estranged husband, John Frusciante, an ex-guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The couple was married for just under four years and lived seemingly luxurious lifestyle that included three homes, personal assistants, and a private music studio.
According to TMZ, Nicole is now asking the court for $75,000 per month in spousal support. She claims that she would experience an ‘enormous step down from their life as a married couple’ without it as John’s net worth is around $14 million to her $30,000 in the bank.
How might such a spousal support claim arising from a short marriage play out in Ontario?
To begin with, Nichole would face the threshold hurdle of establishing at least one of three grounds of entitlement to spousal support: compensatory, contractual, or non-compensatory.
The purpose of compensatory spousal support is to compensate a spouse for their hardship or lost opportunities arising from marriage or breakdown of marriage. This can refer to situations where a spouse forgoes employment or career advancement for the sake of child rearing or supporting the career pursuits of the other spouse. As Nichole and John have no children, and it appears that Nichole has been actively pursuing her own musical career during the marriage, entitlement to compensatory support seems unlikely.
Contractual support is spousal support paid pursuant to an express or implied agreement between spouses. Since we have very little information to speculate from, it is unclear whether Nichole is entitled to spousal support under a marriage contract or separation agreement.
On the other hand, non-compensatory or “needs based” support is meant to assist spouses facing economic hardship who are not yet able to become self-sufficient. A court may order needs-based support if the payor spouse has the ability to pay, even if marriage or marriage breakdown is not the cause of the claimant spouse’s financial need. Furthermore, the context of the claimant spouse’s “need” is assessed the spouses’ accustomed standard of living during marriage. Given Nichole’s claim that she requires $75,000 per month to maintain the lifestyle she enjoyed during marriage, she will likely be grounding her support claim as non-compensatory.
If Nichole successfully establishes a spousal support entitlement, the next step would be for a court to determine how much and for how long support will be paid. In Canada, the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAG) provides formulas to assists courts with this calculation. Since Nichole and John have no children, the “without child” formula would apply to calculate a potential range based on the number of years they cohabited and the difference between their gross annual incomes. From this range the court has discretion to determine the appropriate quantum and duration in their specific circumstances.
While we do not have John and Nichole’s income information to estimate a potential range of support under the SSAG, the fact that their marriage was less than five years may have an impact on the duration of any spousal support award Nichole might receive. Since their marriage was a relatively short marriage, it is likely that a spousal support award to Nichole would be time-limited. This means that the order would expire after support has been paid for a certain number of years and John’s support obligations to Nichole would end. In addition, since John’s income is above $350,000.00 per year the court can deviate from the SSAG and required John to pay less than the amounts set out in the SSAG.