Spousal Maintenance After Divorce: A Practical UK Guide | LegalDocuments.co.uk

Overview

Spousal maintenance is a regular payment made by one former spouse to the other after divorce or the dissolution of a civil partnership. It's separate from child maintenance, which exists to support children, and separate from the division of capital assets like the family home, savings or pensions.

The purpose is to help a financially weaker spouse meet their reasonable needs where they can't cover those needs from their own income and assets alone. In England and Wales, spousal maintenance is governed by the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, with equivalent provisions for civil partners under the Civil Partnership Act 2004.

Courts have wide discretion, there's no fixed formula. A judge will look at the whole picture: what each person earns, what they own, what they reasonably need, how long the marriage lasted, and whether one spouse gave up career progression to care for children or support the other's work.

Maintenance can be ordered for a set number of years (a term order), or occasionally on a 'joint lives' basis, though the modern trend is firmly towards time-limited orders that encourage the receiving spouse to become financially independent where possible.

Key steps

1. Work out your financial position honestly. Before anything else, put together a realistic picture of your income, outgoings, debts and assets. Do the same for your spouse if you can. Courts and advisers work from accurate numbers, and going into discussions without knowing your own figures puts you at a serious disadvantage from the start. 2. Try to reach agreement through negotiation or mediation. Most couples resolve financial matters without a contested court hearing. Family mediation, solicitor-led negotiation or the collaborative process can all help you reach a workable arrangement. An agreement you both shape tends to last better than one imposed on you, and it's almost always cheaper and faster than litigation. 3. Get any agreement recorded in a consent order. A private agreement about maintenance isn't binding on its own. To make it enforceable and to stop future claims being reopened, the terms need to be written into a consent order and approved by the court. Without that, either of you could return years later asking for something different. 4. Apply to court if agreement isn't possible. Where discussion breaks down, either spouse can apply for a financial remedy order as part of the divorce. The court process involves financial disclosure using Form E, directions hearings, and potentially a final hearing. It's structured to encourage settlement at each stage, and many cases resolve before a judge decides the outcome. 5. Plan for variation and review. Spousal maintenance orders can usually be varied later if circumstances change significantly, job loss, serious illness, remarriage, or a substantial shift in either party's income. Keep records, understand what triggers a review, and take advice before agreeing to anything that restricts your ability to ask for changes down the line.

Common questions