Spousal maintenance - nominal amount

[Magmum75]

I keep hearing here that spousal maintenance is not really a thing anymore. A clean break seems like the best thing to me, but my solicitor has advised I put in for spousal maintenance at the nominal sum of £1 a year to keep the option open should my circumstances change. Anyone else been advised to do this?

But he could be on £50k a year and you on £15k - whilst that's higher than you, it's not really enough to be considered a 'high earner' in this scenario.

Some very interesting points made here, which I take on board. I should say I was surprised by the very suggestion of nominal spousal maintenance and it makes me feel uncomfortable. I fully intend to support myself, I'm looking into appropriate redundancy/accident insurance cover. I agree that there should be very strict criteria for it ever being invoked. If its quite unusual these days then I expect it is to do with my circumstances ex is highest rate tax payer and I gave up my career etc etc.

Highest rate is anything over £125k. Are you talking closer to £125k or £500k?

I have this in my consent order. My barrister insisted on it. My ex is a high earner and whilst I’m currently able to support myself, if I fell on hard times it enables me to apply to vary the spousal maintenance part, which I wouldn’t be able to do if we had had a clean break.

The other effect of it is, when he spits his dummy and says he won’t be paying child maintenance and similar, I point out that I’ll go after him under this clause, so play nicely.

One night he said he was going to take redundancy and wouldn’t be able to pay his CMS and I pointed out again that if he leaves me short and I am forced to invoke this clause I’ll go after his colossal pension, which I didn’t touch at the time.

It’s a reminder that my claws are still close to his balls, the utter dickhead.

This isn’t how the NSM clause works. Your solicitor should of explained this to you when you agreed to the consent order.

You would have had to fall on extremely hard times (for e.g be confined to a wheelchair because you had had an accident and you were unable to support yourself while children were under 18).

If your EH ‘leaves you short’ you wouldn’t be able to ‘go after his colossal pension’. When you & the judge signed the consent order, it was final.

I was going to say, surely if he stops paying child support that’s an issue for the CMS to take up.

Nothing to do with NSM which is to support the ex spouse, not the children, if she cannot support herself.

having had a quick google it would appear invoking the nsm clause is very rare and needs a very specific change in the ex spouse’s circumstances.

You’re right - I shouldn’t have used CM as an example and there are circumstances which were/are particular to my case where my income could conceivably halt entirely through no fault of my own - this has happened in the past and could again, but the details are too outing to share.
The £1 NSM simply keeps open the possibility to revisit and vary that element of our settlement.
But I absolutely maintain that just its presence there keeps him from being marginally less of an arse than he would have been.
im fully aware that it is a very specific set of circumstances for this clause to come into its own but nonetheless it was worth having in my particular circumstances and his brief fought it like mad but ultimately blinked first.

Hi. Looking for some positive stories. My dad has had 2 raised psa results, a physical exam which the doctor said seemed slightly enlarged but fine bit will refer to urology anyway. He had a mri Friday night and they have just phoned him to go in tomorrow. I'm panicking a bit as why have they called him in so quickly 🫤. Anyone else have similar stories? Thank you x

You've posted this in the wrong place. You need to start your own thread in the relevant topic.