Spousal maintenance explained
Spousal maintenance is regular payment from one ex-spouse to the other after divorce, separate from child maintenance. There's no formula — it's based on need and affordability — and the modern trend is towards shorter, time-limited awards or a clean break. Here's how it works.
Need and ability to pay
Spousal maintenance (technically "periodical payments") may be ordered where one spouse can't meet their reasonable needs from their own income and the other has the means to help. The two key questions are the recipient's needs and the payer's ability to pay after meeting their own.
Why it's discretionary
Unlike child maintenance, there is no percentage formula. The court weighs the section 25 factors — incomes, earning capacity, length of marriage, standard of living, age and health. Two similar couples can get different outcomes, which is why early legal advice matters.
Clean breaks and time limits
Courts increasingly favour a clean break where possible — a one-off capital settlement instead of ongoing payments — or a time-limited order giving the recipient time to become financially independent (for example while children are young or they retrain). Lifelong "joint lives" orders are now rarer.
Capitalisation is an option
Bridging a needs gap
If the recipient needs £2,200 a month but only earns £1,200, there's a £1,000 shortfall. If the payer earns £3,500 net and can meet their own needs with room to spare, the court might order maintenance towards that gap — though it would also push the recipient to increase their own income over time, often via a time-limited order.
Common spousal maintenance mistakes
- Confusing it with child maintenance. They are separate; child maintenance follows the CMS formula, spousal maintenance does not.
- Expecting maintenance for life. Most modern orders are time-limited or aim for a clean break.
- Ignoring remarriage and cohabitation. Maintenance usually ends on the recipient's remarriage and can be varied if they cohabit.
- Not formalising it. Only a court order makes maintenance enforceable and able to be varied later.