Let’s talk legal... Who decides spousal maintenance?

By Evolve Family Law

When you split up, it’s hard to obtain the detailed information you need on whether you are likely to receive or pay spousal maintenance and who decides.

Separating your financial affairs and dividing your savings, pensions, and the equity in the family home is especially challenging when you are grappling with spousal income disparities and promotion prospects, and trying to understand child support and spousal maintenance.

Calculating child support and spousal maintenance

Confusingly, child support and spousal maintenance are determined by two different organisations, each using different calculation methods.

Child support is determined by the Child Maintenance Service using a mathematical formula. The family court determines spousal maintenance when asked to make a financial order. When deciding whether to make a spousal maintenance order, the court considers both spouses’ income and reasonable outgoings to determine whether spousal maintenance should be paid and, if so, the amount.

Reaching an agreement on the financial settlement and spousal maintenance

Family lawyers recommend that separating couples reach a financial agreement covering the family home, savings, pension, and ongoing financial support, thereby avoiding the need for a Child Maintenance Service assessment or a financial remedy application. Reaching a compromise can save you both time and money – provided that your ex-partner recognises that compromise involves them as well as you.

There are several ways a family law solicitor can help you work out whether you will get or pay spousal maintenance and the financial settlement. These include:

1. Amicable divorce

2. Family mediation

3. Solicitor negotiation

4. Round table meeting

5. Agreement through collaborative law

Financial court orders and spousal maintenance

If you reach an agreement, it’s essential to ask the court to record your agreement in a financial consent order. It’s particularly important to do so if spousal maintenance is an option because:

1. Spousal maintenance can be time-limited or end on a specific event. The date and end event must be clear and enforceable.

2. Spousal maintenance can go up or down. You may want to negotiate RPI payment rises as part of your court order to avoid variation applications.

3. If you both earn similar salaries, you may want a clean break order so neither of you can claim further capital or spousal maintenance in future.

At Evolve Family Law, we recognise just how hard it can be when you are coming to terms with the end of your marriage and the implications for yourself and your children. We aim to provide the information and specialist family law legal advice you need.

With our support and guidance, you can obtain a divorce, reach an agreement on parenting arrangements, make a new Will, and resolve issues such as who will remain in the family home, whether spousal maintenance will be paid, and for how long.