can spousal maintenance be increased?

[Confusedmummy2017]

Hi All,

I am very close to getting a consent order agreed for financial matter in relation to my divorce.
My question as he has refused to do the nominal spousal maintenance as i was advised to add this. He has been very much secretive regarding finances, and we have a young child together.
If i go ahead with his offer of 5% salary spousal maintenance until our child is 12 can i then request the court to reconsider this if i neeeded to?

Thanks

Why aren't you able to get a job to support yourself?

WTS ^

Ask your solicitor! Too important not to get proper advice on this. And ignore the pp, none of us know your financial circumstances nor those of your ex’s; but your duty is to ensure your child is provided for which includes ensuring you have spousal maintenance

Thank you for your reply Bosabosa. I will do I just thought someone on here may know the answer but thanks anyway.

I would imagine it would be very difficult to increase the amount of spousal maintenance once your child was older. Decrease or stopping entirely at age 12 is much more likely.

Would you be better negotiating fir a larger child maintenance provision which would last till 18? Ask your solicitor.

MidniteScribbler and gamerchick, if you needed more information about my or my husbands personal situation to help me with this question I would have happily given you this. I kept it short so it was an easy read. If you have nothing but assumptions to make then maybe don't bother answering. For the record I do have a job.

If you have a job, why do you need spousal support? I am not being arsey, just curious. The only person I know who got spousal support was a friend of mine, who is disabled.

I would be surprised if you could get the agreement changed. You could go back to court if he hadn't been paying it (or hadn't been giving inflationary increases or whatever you end up agreeing). This happened to someone I knew (no increases over a very long period), but they reached an agreement through solicitors, it didn't go back to court. Spousal maintenance is unusual though these days. Presumably this is on top of child maintenance?

The only people I know who got spousal maintenance were the ones who paid a lot for lawyers! Usually SAHM married to very wealthy men.

Spousal support is not really encouraged now, courts are moving away from it. That’s probably why posters are questioning it.

Unless your DH was a really high earner and you gave up a career to support him and raise your DC it’s expected that you wouldn’t be eligible for spousal support as the expectation is that you resume a career to support yourself.

Spouse maintenance is still a thing. Mainly used where there is one high earner and the other a low earner (I don't get those posters whose only contribution is get a job or why do you need it? - If you're earning £10k a year and he's on £200k you need spouse maintenance. the fact that other posters have to live on much less (me included) is irrelevant). the longer the marriage (or the effect of the marriage) the longer the spouse maintenance will last. A SMO can always be varied at any time, but requires a change in circumstances. If he's offering you 5% that will take account of his change in circumstances but not necessarily yours.

Good luck with it OP!

Because courts are moving away from spousal maintenance it's really best to go back to your solicitor with this.

@Confusedmummy2017 I think the Courts don't really like a party going back after a consent order has been agreed unless it comes to light that he has been hiding income and not abiding but the terms of the order or he lied to the court about his assets at the time of the divorce. There was a recent high profile case on this point.

To pp's spousal support can still be granted where it is impossible for one party to achieve anything like their fair share counting lost years of earnings while assisting or promoting the higher earners career! I work and always have my stbxh earns 10 x my salary in wages and dividends with 20 years of working life ahead of us both!

Collaborate has given the correct position.

Regarding redastherose's post, she is confusing two separate issues. You cannot change the division of assets in a consent order unless there is evidence that the other party did not make a full disclosure. However, spousal maintenance is different and can be varied at any time if circumstances change. You don't need evidence of hiding income, lying to the court, etc. to get a change in spousal maintenance.

To OP

Unlike child maintenance there is no formula for Spousal Maintenance. Details of Spousal Maintenance available on the internet seem to relate mostly to cases where one of the partners is a high earner as opposed to the average run of the mill divorce.

The post by Collaborate

Mainly used where there is one high earner and the other a low earner

Is probably the most realistic generalization that can be made. In my case I can earn per day what Ex wife can earn per month. Hence SM was considered to be fair.

Good luck