Spousal Maintenance. Is it for you?

One of the biggest fears as you separate can be finance related and wondering whether or not you can make ends meet.

With many partnered couples having roles that have one as the primary income earner and the other the primary homemaker, separation can seem daunting to the individual who has the lower income.

Smart Legal Family Lawyers can help.  The law understands that during this transitional period there can be some imbalances and therefore have safe guards with the potential payment of Spousal Maintenance.

Smart Legal Family Lawyers can help determine whether you are entitled to Spousal Maintenance and how best to negotiate this in terms of longer term payments or as a once off within your property settlement.

Firstly, we should clarify and let you know this isn’t a long term solution.  Think of Spousal Maintenance as a safe guard or stop gap until you are able to have a steady income that allows you to meet your financial responsibilities.  It may help you while waiting on your cash payment from your property settlement.  Spousal Maintenance can also allow you time to find new employment or while you study and re train for the work force.  Or perhaps you and your ex-spouse have agreed that spousal maintenance will be paid so that you can continue your role as homemaker until your children reach school age.

For all of these examples, Spousal Maintenance can be paid if there is a capacity to do so.

Smart Legal Family Lawyers can help you assess your situation and determine if there is a need and if there is a capacity.  It is important to note that for clients wanting to access Spousal Maintenance, that this payment is for a “needs” only basis, giving you the security required to ensure you are able to support yourself through the separation process.

Working out “your needs” and “their capacity” is assessed in very much the same way.  We get down to the basics and your budget.  We look at both income and expenditure of your everyday living expenses to see where the shortfalls are and where the excess is.

We will consider any child support that is already being paid.

Let’s look at Claire and Rod.  Separated with 3 children, Claire will remain the primary caregiver. Claire’s income includes a part time job, Centrelink payment and child support, while her expenses include rent, school fees, groceries, car payments and more.  She is short $550 a week.

Rod’s income is steady with no extra payments but his expenses include child support, house and car repayments.  He has a surplus of $400.

So, despite Claire’s need for spousal maintenance being $550 a week, Rod could only be expected to pay the amount that he had left over after his own expenses. 

Because of this, spousal maintenance could only be requested at his capacity which is the amount of $400. 

If you would like to know whether or not you could be eligible for Spousal Maintenance, we suggest you take advantage of our 30min FREE consultation.  We can walk you through the ins and outs and determine whether or not you have a case.

At Smart Legal Family Lawyers, we know that the transition period of separation and divorce can be hard to deal with.  There are so many unknown factors and that is why we make it our mission to ensure you have everything you need to navigate the process with support and expert legal guidance.

Call our friendly team today to find out more about Spousal Maintenance and arrange your obligation FREE chat.