How is spousal maintenance calculated?

There’s no set formula or percentage. It comes down to what the person asking for maintenance reasonably needs, set against what the other person can afford to pay. It should be fair to both of you. Nobody should be left in debt to meet the payments.

How long does spousal maintenance last?

Usually for a fixed number of years, although it can occasionally last until one of you dies. Payments stop if the person receiving them remarries or enters a new civil partnership, and on the death of either of you. If you rely on the payments, it’s worth considering life insurance on the paying person’s life.

Does spousal maintenance stop if my ex moves in with a new partner?

Sometimes. It depends on what your order says. Remarriage ends it, but living with someone doesn’t automatically, unless your order provides for this. A new partner sharing the bills can be a reason to ask the court to reduce the payments, though, and it’s something we can advise on.

Is spousal maintenance taxable?

You don’t pay tax on spousal maintenance you receive. It can affect how much Universal Credit or certain other benefits you can claim, so it’s worth checking before anything is agreed.

Is it too late to ask for maintenance after the divorce?

Not necessarily. Unless a court order has already dealt with your claims, you may still be able to apply. It’s much better to deal with maintenance before the final order in your divorce, though, because the longer you leave it, the less a court may be willing to award it.

Is spousal maintenance the same as child maintenance?

No. Child maintenance is separate, is worked out using a set formula, and is often arranged through the Child Maintenance Service rather than the court. Spousal maintenance is about the adults, and there’s no formula for it.

Spousal Maintenance

Two households cost more than one. The hard part is working out who pays for what, and for how long.

Whichever side of it you’re on, spousal maintenance tends to be the part of a settlement that feels most personal. It’s about day-to-day life: the mortgage, rent, the shopping, the car, the school run. There’s no formula, so it helps to understand what a fair outcome looks like for you before anything is agreed.

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How we can help with spousal maintenance.

Whether maintenance is payable

Working out whether either of you needs ongoing support, and whether a clean break is realistic.

Agreeing the amount and term

Building a figure from real budgets, with a sensible end date or point of review.

Support in the meantime

Short-term help with the bills from the point you separate, while the wider settlement is sorted out.

Changing or ending payments

Varying an existing order when life changes, or replacing ongoing payments with a lump sum.

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Most maintenance now has an end date.

Spousal maintenance is a regular payment from one former spouse or civil partner to the other, to help with living costs once the marriage has ended. It’s there when one of you genuinely can’t support yourself without it. It makes no difference whether that’s a husband, a wife or a civil partner, and there’s no automatic right to it.

Payments for life have become rare. Much more often, maintenance is set for a fixed period. That might be long enough for someone who stepped back from work to retrain and rebuild their income, or for the children to reach an age where working more becomes possible. In a short marriage with no children, it may not be paid at all.

Where we can help

Whether maintenance is payable

The court looks at a range of things:

both of your incomes and earning capacity
what each of you reasonably needs
your ages and health
how long you were married
the standard of living you had
what each of you contributed, including caring for children and running the home

We’ll talk you through how those apply to you, and whether a clean break is realistic now or further down the line.

Agreeing the amount and term

Unlike child maintenance, there’s no calculator for spousal maintenance. The starting point is two honest budgets: what each of you has coming in, and what you each reasonably need to live on. We help you put those together properly. Then we agree a figure and a length of time that works for both households, including how it should change over time. Where you are both able to work at it together, we can build those budgets with the two of you in the same room through Separating Together, rather than through letters.

Support in the meantime

Financial settlements take time, and the bills don’t stop while you wait. You can ask for support as soon as you separate, and often it can be agreed between you. If it can’t, the court can order interim maintenance once divorce proceedings have started, to tide things over until the final settlement is in place.

Changing or ending payments

Life keeps moving after divorce. A job is lost, a pay rise comes through, someone moves in with a new partner. Either of you can ask the court to vary a maintenance order when circumstances change significantly. If you’re finding payments hard to keep up, please don’t simply stop paying. Talk to us first, because there are proper ways to deal with it.

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Clean break, or ongoing support?

A clean break ends the financial ties between you, so neither of you can make claims against the other in future. It gives you both certainty, and it’s what couples and courts usually aim for. But it isn’t always fair straight away, particularly where one of you has been out of work for years or is caring for young children.

Where there’s enough capital, ongoing maintenance can sometimes be replaced with a lump sum. The sum is worked out to cover what the payments would have provided. That brings the certainty of a clean break, but it’s a one-way door. Once maintenance has been paid off as a lump sum, it can’t be adjusted if circumstances change later. We’ll help you weigh up which is right for your situation.

Put it in writing, and make it binding.

Plenty of couples agree maintenance between themselves, and where that’s possible we’d encourage it. But an informal arrangement is hard to enforce if payments stop, and it can leave the door open to claims later. The only way to be sure is a court order.

Once your divorce is under way, what you’ve agreed can be written into a consent order. When a judge has approved it and the divorce is final, it’s legally binding and can be enforced. There’s more on how that works on our consent orders and financial settlements page. If you’re separating but not ready to divorce, a properly drafted separation agreement can record the arrangement in the meantime.

As members of Resolution, we’ll always look for a constructive way to reach agreement, including Separating Together, where one solicitor advises you both. Where court is genuinely needed, we’ll say so and represent you properly.

Two people talking over coffee in the Nicholsons office — Separating Together, one solicitor for both of you

Work it out together, with one solicitor.

Not every separation is a war. Where you can both still sit down together, Separating Together lets you use one solicitor between you rather than one each. We use the Resolution Together model: we advise you jointly, in the same room, with nothing held back from either of you. Maintenance comes down to two honest budgets, and having both sets of figures on the table at once usually gets you to a fair number sooner.

It isn’t right for everyone, and we’d rather say so than let you find out the hard way. Where there’s a lot of conflict, or one of you isn’t willing to be open about the money, the usual route is the safer one.

More about Separating Together

Questions about spousal maintenance.

Not sure this is the right page?

For the wider settlement, including the home, savings and investments, start with our Finances on Divorce or Separation page. For pensions, see Pension Sharing on Divorce. If you weren’t married or in a civil partnership, you don’t have to support each other financially when you separate, although you’ll still share the cost of bringing up any children. Our Cohabitation page is the place to start. For arrangements for children, see our Children page.

If you would both rather sort things out with one solicitor between you, see Separating Together. All of these sit alongside the rest of our family law work. If you’re not sure which you need, get in touch and we’ll point you to the right one.