(a) The court may order the spouse who has the management or control of community property to apply the income or principal, or both, of the community property to the support and maintenance of the conservatee, including care, treatment, and support of a conservatee who is a patient in a state hospital under the jurisdiction of the State Department of State Hospitals or the State Department of Developmental Services, as ordered by the court.

(b) In determining the amount ordered for support and maintenance, the court shall consider the following circumstances of the spouses:

(1) The earning capacity and needs of each spouse.

(2) The obligations and assets, including the separate property, of each spouse.

(3) The duration of the marriage.

(4) The age and health of the spouses.

(5) The standard of living of the spouses.

(6) Any other relevant factors which it considers just and equitable.

(c) At the request of any interested person, the court shall make appropriate findings with respect to the circumstances.

(d) The court may order the spouse who has the management or control of community property to make a specified monthly or other periodic payment to the conservator of the person of the conservatee or to any other person designated in the order. The court may order the spouse required to make the periodic payments to give reasonable security therefor.

(e) (1) The court may order the spouse required to make the periodic payments to assign, to the person designated in the order to receive the payments, that portion of the earnings of the spouse due or to be due in the future as will be sufficient to pay the amount ordered by the court for the support and maintenance of the conservatee. The order operates as an assignment and is binding upon any existing or future employer upon whom a copy of the order is served. The order shall be in the form of an earnings assignment order for support prescribed by the Judicial Council for use in family law proceedings. The employer may deduct the sum of one dollar and fifty cents ($1.50) for each payment made pursuant to the order. Any such assignment made pursuant to court order shall have priority as against any execution or other assignment unless otherwise ordered by the court or unless the other assignment is made pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 5200) of Part 5 of Division 9 of the Family Code. An employer shall not use any assignment authorized by this subdivision as grounds for the dismissal of that employee.

(2) As used in this subdivision, “employer” includes the United States government and any public entity as defined in Section 811.2 of the Government Code. This subdivision applies to the money and benefits described in Sections 704.110 and 704.113 of the Code of Civil Procedure to the extent that those moneys and benefits are subject to a wage assignment for support under Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 703.010) of Division 2 of Title 9 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

(f) The court retains jurisdiction to modify or to vacate an order made under this section where justice requires, except as to any amount that may have accrued before the date of the filing of the petition to modify or revoke the order. At the request of any interested person, the order of modification or revocation shall include findings of fact and may be made retroactive to the date of the filing of the petition to revoke or modify, or to any date subsequent thereto. At least 15 days before the hearing on the petition to modify or vacate the order, the petitioner shall deliver pursuant to Section 1215 a notice of the time and place of the hearing on the petition, accompanied by a copy of the petition, to the spouse who has the management or control of the community property. Notice shall be given for the period and in the manner provided in Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1460) of Part 1 to any other persons entitled to notice of the hearing under that chapter.

(g) In a proceeding for dissolution of the marriage or for legal separation, the court has jurisdiction to modify or vacate an order made under this section to the same extent as it may modify or vacate an order made in the proceeding for dissolution of the marriage or for legal separation.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 319, Sec. 56. (AB 976) Effective January 1, 2018.)