maintenance

[thepuddingchef]

Just a quick Question I am hoping someone has the answer to,
If the ex wife has been having x amount of £ for the last 6 years consistently every month, of which part of the figure is for maintenance and upkeep of house, can she suddenly decide that she would like a lump sum instead of the monthly payments and force the exH to get themselves into debt? esp if she is about to re-marry and currently lives in another country?

A spouse maintenance order can be capitalised on the application of either party. If however she is about to remarry it's worthless, as it would be coming to an end soon anyway.

So you are saying she can request an amount, let say 250,000 and the other party has to pay? Even though it would mean taking a loan out/mortgage? And this part of the maintenance would cease once she remarried? So if she had it now she would be getting money she wasn't entitled to?
Sorry to sound a bit thick, but I have no clue about these things.

If she's about to remarry the maintenance is going to end soon anyway , so it won't cost much to capitalise. If she's already cohabiting the current level of maintenance perhaps should be nominal anyway. The court will decide first what the current level of maintenance should be, multiply that by the time over which it is likely to be paid, and deduct a % for early receipt. Only if the payer has the ability to raise the funds will the court order capitalisation.

thank you