Spousal maintenance is a regular payment made by one former spouse to the other following divorce. It is not automatic, and courts in England and Wales now lean towards achieving a clean financial break wherever possible. Understanding when it is ordered and how it is calculated helps you assess your position.
Spousal maintenance is ordered where there is an imbalance in income between the parties and one spouse cannot reasonably meet their own needs from their own resources. It is most commonly seen in longer marriages where one spouse gave up their career or reduced their working hours to care for children, leaving them with significantly lower earning capacity than the other.
Courts prefer to make orders that achieve a clean break: a once-and-for-all settlement with no ongoing financial ties. Spousal maintenance is ordered where a clean break is not immediately achievable.
There is no fixed formula for calculating spousal maintenance in England and Wales. The court looks at the paying party's ability to pay, the receiving party's reasonable needs, and what income the receiving party can reasonably generate themselves. The goal is to bridge the gap between those needs and that income, not to ensure the receiving party maintains the same standard of living as during the marriage indefinitely.
Maintenance can be ordered for a fixed term or on a joint lives basis. Joint lives maintenance continues until one party dies or the receiving party remarries. Fixed term orders are increasingly common and require the receiving party to achieve financial independence by a specified date.
Courts are increasingly reluctant to make long-term open-ended maintenance orders where the receiving party is capable of achieving independence through employment or retraining. The court may impose a term and make clear that it should not be extended.
Yes. Either party can apply to vary a maintenance order if there has been a material change in circumstances. For example,, the paying party loses their job, or the receiving party starts cohabiting or increases their income significantly. Remarriage of the receiving party automatically terminates a joint lives order.
A clean break order brings all financial claims between the parties to an end in a single settlement, with no ongoing maintenance. Where a clean break is possible, courts generally prefer it because it allows both parties to move on with financial independence. A lump sum or property adjustment may be used to compensate the lower-earning party in lieu of ongoing maintenance.
Spousal maintenance is ordered where there is an income gap between the parties that cannot be addressed by a clean break settlement. The amount and duration depend on each party's circumstances. Fixed term orders are increasingly preferred over open-ended joint lives arrangements. Either party can apply to vary the order if circumstances change materially.
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