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By Natalie Cull
Separation can bring significant financial changes, particularly if you relied on your partner’s income during your relationship. If you’re struggling to cover your living expenses following a separation, you may be entitled to spousal maintenance.
Spousal maintenance is financial support paid by one party to their current or former spouse or de facto partner when that person is unable to adequately support themselves and the other party has the capacity to provide financial assistance.
Understanding your rights and obligations early can help you make informed decisions about your financial future.
What Is Spousal Maintenance?
Under the Family Law Act, a person may be required to financially support their former spouse or de facto partner if they cannot adequately meet their own reasonable expenses and the other person has the financial capacity to assist.
Spousal maintenance is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Being separated or experiencing financial difficulty does not automatically mean you are entitled to receive payments. Your individual circumstances, financial needs and your former partner’s ability to pay will all be considered.
How Is Spousal Maintenance Assessed?
When determining whether spousal maintenance may be appropriate, the court considers both the financial needs of the person seeking support and the financial capacity of the person who may be required to pay it.
Factors that may be considered include:
• Income and financial resources: Each party’s income, property, assets and other available financial resources.
• Age and health: Whether either party’s age or health affects their ability to work or support themselves.
• Caring responsibilities: Whether one party has primary responsibility for caring for a child or children of the relationship, and the need for that party to provide appropriate housing for the child/ren.
• Employment circumstances: Whether the relationship affected a person’s ability to work, develop their career or earn an income.
• Reasonable living expenses: Whether the person seeking maintenance can meet their reasonable expenses with their current financial resources, and whether those expenses are considered a suitable standard of living.
For example, one partner may have spent several years caring for the children while the other continued working and earning an income. Following separation, the stay-at-home parent may have limited employment opportunities and insufficient income to cover their living expenses.
In these circumstances, spousal maintenance may be worth exploring, depending on both parties’ financial circumstances.
What Can Spousal Maintenance Look Like?
Spousal maintenance can take different forms depending on the circumstances of the parties and the arrangements made.
It may involve regular payments to help cover ongoing living expenses or, in some circumstances, a lump-sum payment or another agreed financial arrangement.
The amount, frequency and duration of any support will depend on the individual circumstances. There is no automatic entitlement to a particular amount or a fixed period of maintenance.
Spousal maintenance is also separate from property settlement and child support. While these matters may be considered alongside one another when assessing a person’s overall financial position, they serve different purposes and are assessed under different legal principles.
When Should You Seek Legal Advice?
If you have recently separated and are concerned about your financial position, it is worth seeking legal advice as early as possible.
Understanding your options can help you determine whether you may be entitled to receive spousal maintenance or whether you may have an obligation to provide financial support to your former partner.
There are also legal requirements and time limits that may apply to spousal maintenance applications, so getting advice early can help you understand what may be available to you.
At Nikolovski Lawyers, we can help you understand your rights and obligations following separation and assess whether spousal maintenance may be relevant to your circumstances.
Need advice about spousal maintenance? Contact Nikolovski Lawyers to discuss your situation and understand your options.
