spousal maintenance

AliJH

My husband and I are divorcing amicably and I'm considering claiming spousal maintenance. Broadly, he takes home £4K/mth and I take home £1.8K after tax/NI/pension. We expect each of our living costs to be roughly the same after divorce. We have been married for 25 years. What sort of maintenance should I be looking at and for how long?

Kayalana99

Would you not be able to support yourself on 1.8k? As I believe spouse payments are only eligble if you can prove that you can't support yourself. It's not a case of he earns more so your eligble.

Guest101

None. Spousal maintenance is paid for spouses who are unable to support themselves, typically through illness or disability.

Mojisola

AliJH wrote: »

My husband and I are divorcing amicably and I'm considering claiming spousal maintenance.

Broadly, he takes home £4K/mth and I take home £1.8K after tax/NI/pension.

It won't stay amicable if you put in a claim for maintenance.

Two adults going their own way should be independent in their new lives - why should one ex keep paying the other after they split?

Pollycat

AliJH wrote: »

My husband and I are divorcing amicably and I'm considering claiming spousal maintenance. Broadly, he takes home £4K/mth and I take home £1.8K after tax/NI/pension. We expect each of our living costs to be roughly the same after divorce. We have been married for 25 years. What sort of maintenance should I be looking at and for how long?

The post below by a different username to this ^^^^ is pretty much the same.

SM17 wrote: »

I'm considering claiming spousal maintenance on amicable divorce. Broadly, partner takes home £4K/mth and I take home £1.8K after tax/NI/pension. We expect each of our living costs to be roughly the same after divorce. We have been married for 25 years. What sort of maintenance should I be looking at and for how long?

Why are you posting under 2 different user names?

itchyfeet123

Mojisola wrote: »

Two adults going their own way should be independent in their new lives - why should one ex keep paying the other after they split?

To play devil's advocate, the division of labour in the marriage has long term implications for earning power even after the marriage is over. The classic example is of course the breadwinner-housewife model where the housewife has foregone the opportunity of a high paying career to contribute to the household in non-financial ways. It's often not possible to just pick up the career where it was left 20 years ago.

(I realise this doesn't apply in the case of the OP, who seems to have a decent income in her own right.)

Mojisola

itchyfeet123 wrote: »

To play devil's advocate, the division of labour in the marriage has long term implications for earning power even after the marriage is over.

Which is why one person may come out of the divorce with a larger percentage of the assets than the higher earner. That gives the lower earner a chance to get their new life sorted out.

If they do spend the rest of their lives with a lower standard of living than their ex, that's the way things are.

If the higher earner had died or become ill and unable to carry on working, no-one would have made up the couple's income to what it was previously.

I can't see any reason why someone should continue to pay money to an ex for the rest of their lives.

Pollycat

My friend's ex left her for another woman - my friend had 2 kids of school age.
She did get half his pensions (from the date of the start of the relationship) but he forced the sale of the house and I believe the split was 60/40 to her.
She was a stay-at-home Mum with a 5 hour a week job.
He had a well-paid job.

When we raised the subject of spousal maintenance, her solicitor almost laughed.

maman

itchyfeet123 wrote: »

To play devil's advocate, the division of labour in the marriage has long term implications for earning power even after the marriage is over. The classic example is of course the breadwinner-housewife model where the housewife has foregone the opportunity of a high paying career to contribute to the household in non-financial ways. It's often not possible to just pick up the career where it was left 20 years ago.

(I realise this doesn't apply in the case of the OP, who seems to have a decent income in her own right.)

I realise you're just giving an example but that same division of labour could be interpreted entirely differently.


Someone I know has chosen to be virtually a SAHM until her only child was 15!:eek: All she's done (despite being a graduate) is some part time cleaning, being careful to keep under the tax threshold. She's just got herself a 'proper job' and is finding the hours difficult after 15 years as a yummy mummy spent having coffee or lunch or dog walking with friends. It's a choice.