Do any women here pay spousal maintenance

[funnylittlefloozie]

Im in the process of divorcing my exH. We've been separated for 5 years, always had a casual arrangement in lieu of child maintenance, where i paid the mortgage and he covered the bills.

I have a low-paid but secure job, with decent prospects of promotion. He works on short-term very well paid contracts. On average he earns 3-4 times my annual income.

His last contract finished at Easter and he has presumably been living on his savings since then, which are now running out. I have taken over the council tax and utility bills, so basically, im paying everything.

My question is, could he claim spousal maintenance from me? If he has no income except (presumably) benefits, and i have a secure job and a new partner, so would a court order me to support him?

We have one DD. She last stayed with him overnight back in September, and has barely seen him since.

Im worrying needlessly, arent i?

No you aren't.
You've been separated 5 years.
Spousal maintenance is rarely awarded any way.
And it's usually when the other has given up their career to raise DC etc... which he certainly hasn't.
I'm almost 99.9% sure you won't not be expected to pay him anything!

No, you won't be required to support him. I would crack on with the divorce and set up a more structured maintenance going. He should be paying you, not the other way around. Why are you paying his Bill's?

A childhood friend does but not in this country. She earned like literally x10 what he did though, very high earner. He tried to take her to court for more when she started earning even more (she has v public job which is how he found out), and was told by the judge to be pleased with what he had because it was a lot. She has the kids more btw, not quite sure how that's worked out. She tells me she's happy to pay just to be rid of him

Highly unlikely- there have been some horror stories in the press of "normal" people having spousal maintenance awarded but it's rare and generally only happens where there is a MASSIVE disparity in income - think £100,000s or even millions or if the other person gave up a career and it had been a long standing marriage and they hadn't worked in decades and were unlikely ever to find a job (distinct from just not being arsed to get one because they've become used to not working) . Often it's only awarded for a specific period of time rather than for years and years too