Maintenance for a spouse and children

Child maintenance

Both parents have a legal duty to maintain their children, whether biological or adopted, and regardless of which parent the child lives with or whether the parents were married. Maintenance covers the child's reasonable needs, such as housing, food, clothing, education and medical care.

The duty generally lasts until the child turns 21. It can continue beyond that, for example while the child is in full-time education or national service, or where the child has a disability. A parent can ask the court to extend or increase an order to cover university costs if the existing order does not.

Parents can agree on child maintenance, but the court can set aside an agreement if the child's welfare requires it. Spousal maintenance can be waived by agreement; child maintenance cannot.

Spousal maintenance

The court can order a husband to pay maintenance to his wife, during the marriage or as part of a divorce. A wife can also be ordered to maintain her husband if he is incapacitated by illness or disability and cannot support himself.

Spousal maintenance is not automatic. A spouse who is self-sufficient may receive little or none, and the courts generally expect a spouse who is able to work to do so. Maintenance can be paid monthly or as a lump sum, and sometimes a nominal sum is ordered to keep open the right to claim more later. It usually ends if the receiving spouse remarries.

How the amount is decided

There is no fixed formula. The court considers matters such as:

• the income, earning capacity and other resources of each spouse
• the financial needs and obligations of each person
• the standard of living before the marriage broke down
• the ages of the spouses and the length of the marriage
• any disability
• contributions to the family, including looking after the home and caring for the family

Applying before or without a divorce

Maintenance is often decided as part of the ancillary matters in a divorce. You can also apply on its own, before any divorce, which is common where money is needed urgently. A standalone maintenance application at the Family Justice Courts includes mediation, and if no agreement is reached the case goes to a hearing.

Changing an order

Either party can apply to vary, suspend or cancel a maintenance order if there has been a material change in circumstances, such as a significant change in income, a job loss, serious illness, or new needs for a child. Credible evidence of the change is needed.

If maintenance is not paid

If payments stop, you can apply to the Family Justice Courts to enforce the order. The court has a range of powers, including ordering deductions directly from the payer's salary, and in cases of repeated wilful default, fines or imprisonment.

Since 16 January 2025, a Maintenance Enforcement Process has been rolled out in phases. Eligible enforcement applications are referred to Maintenance Enforcement Officers at the Ministry of Law, who run conciliation sessions and can obtain financial information from banks and public agencies. Their report helps the court tell apart a person who cannot pay from one who will not. From 1 October 2025 the process was extended to some first-time enforcement applications. A respondent referred to the process is charged a fee for the officers' work.

This guide is general information only. The amount and duration of maintenance depend on the facts of each case.