Spousal Maintenance
You can apply for spousal maintenance when you are divorcing your partner and feel that you will not be able to manage financially, either because your standard of living will change drastically, or you will be put at a financial disadvantage. This may be due to your decision to forego a career to support family and you now need time to develop your skills or to help you continue the standard of living you had prior to divorce or dissolution.
How is the Amount of Spousal Maintenance Determined?
There is no set formula for the calculation of spousal maintenance as there is for child maintenance. The payment has to be affordable for the paying party plus the needs of the payee have to be genuine.
The amount you receive would depend on many factors, including :
how much you need to live on
how much income you already have
how much you could potentially earn in the future
the income or assets that belong to the party making the payment as well as the way in which you lived during the marriage
how many children you have and their welfare
For How Long Must Spousal Maintenance be Paid?
If the marriage or civil partnership is short (that is, less than 5 years), the courts will normally impose a Term Order - a period for which spousal maintenance is paid. There is much discussion about whether courts should fix the term at 5 years.
However, if a couple has been together for a long time or if the court feels that the payee is unlikely to become financially independent, a Joint Lives Order may be imposed. A Joint Lives Order requires payment to be made for the rest of the payee’s life. In granting a Joint Lives Order, the court will consider all of the relevant factors mentioned above to see if the person receiving the payment can move closer to becoming financially independent at all.
Lump Sum or Continual Maintenance Payments?
In some circumstances, a lump sum can be paid instead of a continual maintenance payment. This helps to provide a clean break, severing all financial ties between the parties. The calculation is based on annuity rates.
Can the Amount of Payment Change?
The person making payments can apply to court to have the amount adjusted, based on a change of circumstance, such as changes in income or the wealth. For instance, the payee could have secured a new job leading to them to become more financially independent. The court may decide to reduce the payment in order to reflect the change. It may also be reduced when the paying party is no longer capable of making the payments, eg. because they lost their job.
The court has also the power to do the opposite and increase the amount of payment if circumstances change to make this viable.
When do the Payments Stop?
Spousal maintenance usually stops when:
you or your your ex-partner die
the payment term ends
the person receiving spousal maintenance remarries or enters into another civil partnership
the court provides an order to stop the payments.
Applying for Spousal Maintenance
You can apply directly to the court for spousal maintenance.