What happens if you find yourself in the family home with the children, and your spouse has moved out? It may be that you agreed that your spouse would continue assisting you with the children's needs and that they would continue to pay the mortgage. All of a sudden, your estranged spouse decides that they cannot afford to continue assisting you financially, or they move on with their lives and stop making payments towards the home.
Obtaining financial assistance
This can leave the spouse that is still in the home, and dependent on the financial support of the other partner in a vulnerable position.
There is some assistance available in this situation
If you have children, the first thing to do if your spouse is refusing to make a contribution to the children’s needs would be to contact the Child Maintenance Service. Financially supporting children is a legal obligation and the Child Maintenance Service can not only calculate the sum due to you, but also arrange for this sum to be collected from your former spouse directly. For further information, visit their website.
The other option if you do not have sufficient income to support the family home and the outgoings is to make an application for maintenance pending suit. This is an application for immediate financial assistance (for your reasonable needs and expenses) from your estranged spouse prior to the finalisation of the divorce. It is not viewed as a long term remedy and is designed to provide ‘interim’ stability whilst the couple agree the division of the family finances.
In short, maintenance pending suit is a form of assistance used to help bridge the gap before decree absolute, until a full financial order is made at a later date.
Considerations of fairness and reasonableness
When considering an application for maintenance pending suit, the Court will take into account the standard of living of the parties prior to separation, i.e the Court will not allow the party making the application to request assistance with things that would not have been afforded during the marriage itself (such as much higher rent/housing costs or a gardner if this was not usual during the relationship)
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Only those expenses that are reasonably required should be submitted to the Court. Normally this will involve assistance with mortgage payments/rent, utilities, groceries, transport and other essentials. Making an assessment of what you require can be more difficult than you think and will require you to look very closely at your expenditure and bank statements. Consult a specialist family lawyer who can assist you in making sure that you do not under estimate or inflate what you require.
Will capital amounts be paid through this application as well?
The courts view a maintenance pending suit application as a short term and temporary remedy.
Capital amounts (such as lump sum payments) or longer term planned expenditure amounts are therefore reserved for financial proceedings during a court case, or for out of court settlements. This means your divorce solicitor will have to negotiate over such matters at a later date for you.
What factors are considered when making an application for maintenance pending suit?
Typically within such applications it will be the wife who will request such an application. Therefore the wife’s current income will be taken into account and also how reasonable the requests are for financial assistance.</p>
It's important to note that a partner who submits this application must demonstrate that they have explored all other viable options to secure financial assistance before making the application. This includes attempting to reach an agreement with the former partner, and exploring what other methods of financial assistance are available.
If a partner has incurred debt for expenditure on the family home and children directly due to a lack of financial support from their spouse, then this may also be taken in to consideration by the Court.
How our specialist divorce solicitors can help you
At Alun Jones Family Law we are divorce specialists. We can advise you on all possible methods open to you during your divorce case.
It;s important to know that if you suffering financially because of a divorce there might be legal remedies that can help you. Contact our friendly team today, we are situated right in the heart of Cardiff, on St Andrews Place near the National Museum.
