Legal Services Order and Maintenance Pending Suit

If you cannot afford a lawyer but think your spouse has sufficient surplus cash, you can apply for an Order that he or she is made to pay your legal expenses.

This is separate from maintenance pending suit. That expression means interim maintenance. It is a monthly payment to keep a house and home together, pending the final divorce settlement.

Often the monthly payments (typically to a wife) are pitched lower than the final settlement so do not get too down if that happens to you. It does not necessarily bind the judge in any way for the final maintenance level.