Why do I have to pay spousal support to my soon to be exwife? I have to pay her child support as well. She is the one who cheated and brought the marriage to an end. Why am I being punnished?

If you are at the temporary order phase of litigation support is set so as to attempt to maintain the status quo. During the discovery phase of the case you can consider having a vocational evaluation done on your wife per Family Code, Section 4331. That evaluation will test her skill set and you can ask the evaluator to match her skill set to job openings so you can argue to impute an income at the time of trial.

Thanks for the response. What can I do about the fact that she is the one with the education? I have been paying on her student loans now for years.

Depending on how long you have been paying the community may have a right to reimbursement. How long ago did she incur these loans? After a certain period of time the community is presumed to have reaped the benefit of your spouse's increased earning capacity from the education.

She graduated a year before our first child was born and decided, on her own, to delay working until the child was in school. Then the second child came and I am still waiting for her to get a job! We have been paying on the loans for a few years. I think she deferred payment for awhile. Now it looks like the house is upsidedown or close to it. Will she have to pay me back for the student loan payments?

The rebuttable presumption that the community has reaped the benefit of the education kicks in after 10 years. If it has been less than 10 years, you may have a right of reimbursement for the community contribution to your ex's student loans. If it has been more than 10 years, consider that it is only a "rebuttable" presumption, meaning that you are not simply stuck with a no reimbursement rule, you can try to overcome that presumption with your facts, such as that she has not in fact obtained a job or increased her earning capacity and therefore the community has not reaped any benefit from that education.

I don't understand what you mean. Does she have to pay back the loans or not?

Family Code 2641 states that "the community SHALL be reimbursed for community contributions to education or training of a party that substantially enhances the earning capacity of the party." That code section goes on to state that "a loan incurred during marriage for the education or training of a party SHALL NOT be included among the liabilities of the community for purposes of division..." But it gets a little muddied with Family Code 2641© which states that the reimbursement SHALL be REDUCED OR MODIFIED to the extent circumstances render such disposition unjust. As you can see, this is a complex issue and I cannot give you a simple yes or no answer. I recommend that you seek the advise of an attorney. I hope that your are now somewhat educated on the issue and will be able to use your understanding to enhance your discussion with an attorney.