Spousal maintenance: how much, and for how long

Spousal maintenance is a regular payment from one ex-spouse to the other to help with their living costs. In the UK there's no formula for how much you'll get. A court looks at your incomes, what each of you reasonably needs and what the payer can afford, and aims for each of you to become financially independent where that's fair.

That makes it one of the hardest parts of a divorce to predict. This guide explains how the amount and length are decided under the law in England and Wales, how it differs from child maintenance, and why no online calculator can give you a reliable figure.

What is spousal maintenance?

Spousal maintenance (the court calls it a periodical payments order) is money paid regularly by the higher earner to help the other person with their living costs. GOV.UK says it can be set for a limited time or until one of you dies, marries or forms a new civil partnership, and it can be changed if one of you loses your job or earns much more (GOV.UK).

It's separate from child maintenance, which is paid for the children and usually worked out by the Child Maintenance Service using a fixed formula. You can check that figure with the GOV.UK child maintenance calculator. The Family Justice Council notes that the court generally can't make a child maintenance order unless it's part of a consent order, the paying parent lives abroad or very large sums are involved (Family Justice Council).

How much spousal maintenance will I get?

There's no set amount. The Family Justice Council's guide for people sorting out finances without lawyers is clear that, unlike child maintenance, there is no set formula for maintenance to a partner (Family Justice Council). Instead, the guide says the amount depends on three things:

• how much income each of you has from every source, including work, tax credits and benefits
• what each of you needs to cover your income needs, including rent or mortgage and day-to-day living costs
• how much the paying partner can afford, after their own needs and other obligations such as child maintenance

The guide adds that in many cases, once child maintenance is paid, there may not be enough left for significant spousal maintenance as well (Family Justice Council).

How the shortfall is worked out

In most cases the starting point is a budget. Each of you writes down what you need each month, and the figures are compared with what you have coming in. The gap is the shortfall maintenance might cover, if the other person can afford it. The figures below are made up to show the method. They are not a prediction for any real case.

A court would then ask whether the other person can pay £800 a month after meeting their own reasonable needs and paying child maintenance, whether the budget is realistic, and whether the person receiving it could reasonably earn more.Our separation budget spreadsheet and the budget pages in the money workbook help you build your figures from real bank statements.

What does the court look at?

The court must consider all the circumstances, giving first consideration to the welfare of any child of the family under 18. Section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 then lists the matters it must weigh (legislation.gov.uk):

• each person's income, earning capacity, property and other resources, now and in the foreseeable future, including any increase in earning capacity it would be reasonable to expect
• each person's financial needs, obligations and responsibilities
• the standard of living before the marriage broke down
• each person's age and the length of the marriage
• any physical or mental disability
• the contributions each has made, including looking after the home or caring for the family
• conduct, but only where it would be inequitable to ignore it
• the value of any benefit, such as a pension, that either person loses the chance of acquiring because of the divorce

Is it about needs or sharing?

For most people, spousal maintenance is about needs. Capital such as the house, savings and pensions built up during the marriage is often shared equally, but future earnings aren't. In Waggott v Waggott (2018), the Court of Appeal held that a person's earning capacity is not a matrimonial asset to be shared (The National Archives). So maintenance is usually set to meet the other person's reasonable needs, not to split the payer's future income down the middle.

A court starts with two questions: what do you reasonably need, and what can your ex afford to pay?

How long does spousal maintenance last?

It depends on how long it will reasonably take the person receiving it to adjust. The court has a duty to consider whether a clean break is possible, ending financial ties as soon as is just and reasonable. If it orders maintenance, it must consider limiting it to a period long enough for the person receiving it to adjust without undue hardship (Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, s25A).

The Family Justice Council describes the usual patterns (Family Justice Council):

• Term orders for a fixed period, for example two to five years, where the person can return to work and support themselves. With children, these are more likely once the children are at least at secondary school.
• Joint lives orders, which are open-ended and end when either of you dies. These are more likely where a parent is caring for very young children, or after a very long marriage where one person has been out of work for many years.
• Short or no maintenance after a short marriage without children, even where incomes are unequal.
• Nominal orders of a token amount, such as £1 a year, which keep the door open if circumstances change, for example if a child becomes seriously ill.

Maintenance always ends if the person receiving it remarries or forms a civil partnership, or if either of you dies (Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, s28). A term order can include a direction that it can't be extended, which gives the payer certainty that it will end on a fixed date.

Can spousal maintenance be changed?

Yes. Either of you can ask the court to vary, suspend or end a maintenance order if circumstances change, for example a job loss, a big pay rise or the person receiving it moving in with a new partner. The court looks at all the circumstances again, with the children's welfare first, and considers whether payments could end after a further period (Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, s31).

When the court ends an order, it can replace it with a one-off lump sum, a property transfer or a pension share (our guide to pensions in divorce explains how sharing works). This is often called capitalising maintenance, and it gives both of you a clean break (s31(7A) and (7B)).

If you need money while the divorce is going on, the court can also order maintenance pending suit, which runs until the divorce is finalised (Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, s22).

Can a spousal maintenance calculator tell me what I'll get?

No. Because there's no formula in law, any online spousal maintenance calculator is making assumptions that a court isn't bound by. It can't judge whether your budget is reasonable, what you could earn, how the capital is being divided or what your ex can really afford. Treat any figure it gives as a guess. The only official calculator is for child maintenance, and that works because child maintenance does follow a formula set in law.

The most useful thing you can do instead is prepare an honest budget for each of you and get advice on how a court would view it.

Is spousal maintenance taxed?

Not for the person receiving it. Annual payments made by an individual in the UK are exempt from Income Tax (legislation.gov.uk). The person paying doesn't get tax relief either, unless one of you was born before 6 April 1935 (GOV.UK). Child maintenance isn't taxed (GOV.UK).

Benefits are different. Universal Credit counts maintenance from a spouse or former spouse as unearned income, so it reduces your payment (Universal Credit Regulations 2013, reg 66). Child maintenance doesn't affect Universal Credit (GOV.UK). Our guide to divorce and benefits explains what else changes.

For the wider picture, read our guides to how money and property are split, what happens to the house and consent orders and clean break orders.

Common questions

Sources

1. Family Justice Council, Sorting out Finances on Divorce (March 2024)
2. legislation.gov.uk, Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25
3. legislation.gov.uk, Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 25A
4. legislation.gov.uk, Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 28
5. legislation.gov.uk, Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 31
6. legislation.gov.uk, Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 22
7. GOV.UK, Money and property when you divorce: maintenance payments
8. The National Archives, Waggott v Waggott [2018] EWCA Civ 727
9. GOV.UK, Calculate your child maintenance
10. GOV.UK, Child Maintenance Service
11. legislation.gov.uk, Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005, section 727
12. GOV.UK, Maintenance Payments Relief
13. legislation.gov.uk, Universal Credit Regulations 2013, regulation 66

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This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Laws, fees and figures change, so check the sources above and speak to a qualified professional about your situation. Facts checked 20 October 2026.