Spousal support and child maintenance – how does it all work?

When parents divorce, the children’s welfare will always be the main priority

Spousal support and child maintenance may be included in a financial settlement when working out the income needed by each person post-divorce. Salaries are treated differently to shared matrimonial assets, and divorcing spouses don’t automatically have a claim to an equal share of the other’s income, so a form of maintenance may need to be agreed. Maintenance awards are considered on a ‘needs’ basis – let’s take each one in turn.

Spousal support

This is a maintenance payment made to ensure there’s no major imbalance in a couple’s financial situation after the divorce. The amount depends on the recipient’s needs, their own income and their ability to earn money, alongside the other person’s situation. To calculate spousal support, a complete budget, including the income and outgoings of both ex-partners, is considered along with future earning potential. If there is a shortfall on one side’s reasonable budget and a surplus on the other’s, spousal maintenance comes into play.

There’s no set formula for working out spousal support. Your lawyer may be able to help set your expectations, as may friends who’ve been through the process. Every case is different and many factors will be taken into account, such as:

  • Reasonable future budgets
  • Age of children and their needs
  • Ability to work again or retrain
  • Lifestyle during the marriage
  • Both your ages and when retirement is likely
  • Intentions to cohabit or remarry
  • Length of the marriage

Where possible, the amount to be paid is decided by the couple, with help from expert collaborative solicitors or mediators. The key decisions to agree on are how much will be paid and for how long. This can be amended by mutual agreement at a later date if circumstances change.

Where an agreement is not possible, a spousal maintenance order can be made in court. Once this order is made, you must return to the court for any changes. It’s possible to seek a variation – for instance, if you can no longer afford to pay your contributions or if your or your ex-partner’s circumstances have changed and you are seeking more maintenance. However, this isn’t to be taken lightly. As divorce solicitor Charlotte Plowman states, ‘Applications to vary maintenance can be complicated and disproportionately expensive.’

Once spousal maintenance has been established, the payer can’t stop the payments until the agreed period is over, or until a revised agreement or court order is approved. This will automatically terminate if the recipient gets married again or if either ex-spouse dies, but does not automatically change if one of you cohabits in the future.

Child maintenance

Child maintenance covers living costs when the child does not live with one of their parents. It is paid to the child’s primary carer and is a statutory payment – mandated by law. Unlike spousal support, there is a set formula for calculating it, and the amount to be paid is determined by the Child Maintenance Act. This government calculator is useful to get a baseline starting figure.

The amount of child maintenance will depend on:

  • The income of the paying parent
  • How much time the children are spending with each parent
  • Whether the paying parent is paying maintenance for any other children
  • How many children you have

Payments calculated by the Child Maintenance Service are set at:

  • 12% of the payee’s weekly income for one child
  • 16% of the payee’s weekly income for two children
  • 19% of the payee’s weekly income for three or more children

Child maintenance payments typically stop when a child is 16 or, beyond that age, when their full-time education comes to an end.

It is best to use mediators and experts to work out a family-based child maintenance arrangement without the need to get the courts involved. This can be amended as and when circumstances change. However, courts can also rule on child maintenance payments if a compromise cannot be agreed.

When considering child maintenance, it’s worth thinking through other aspects of child-rearing that you’ll need to agree on, such as extra costs and future childcare plans. As divorce expert Kate Daly writes, ‘No family is the same and change is inevitable. Find a solid starting point but be prepared to be flexible.’

Even when maintenance has been agreed, there will always be unexpected expenses – think school trips or a broken laptop. If you can set up a way to communicate and manage these costs upfront, it can save a tricky request to share extra costs later on. Divorcing parents approach this in different ways and many recommend using a co-parenting app. There are plenty to choose from – two with good reviews include Talking Parents and Our Family Wizard.

Most have four basic features:

  • A shareable calendar and scheduling tools
  • A messaging function that keeps a record of all your correspondence
  • An expenses record so that you can collate and share expenses
  • Storage for key documents, such as passports and medical records

Explore a few apps to help you choose the one that suits your needs best. Or, if you decide not to use one, a quick look will at least help to highlight the kinds of things you need to consider when working out collaborative co-parenting with your ex-partner.

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