Spousal Maintenance

An excellent article in the Law Society Gazette 26 January 2015 (www.lawgazette.co.uk) gives guidance on spousal maintenance.

Mr Justice Mostyn the leading Family Court Judge, setting the pace and tone of reforms and developments.

The first question is whether spousal maintenance should apply at all.

The most common reasons were motherhood has interfered with the career of the mother making it necessary for her to need support.

The exception is should sharing and compensation principles apply and the Family Court Judges including those in London, will follow Mostyn’s comments carefully when he says that the court must consider a termination of spousal maintenance with a transition to independence as soon as is reasonable.

The outcome is independence has to be balanced with the standard of living pre-separation.

A judge will not go through a claimant’s needs item by item but will stand back and look at the total picture and see whether it presents a fair proportion of the carer’s available income and how long that should be for.

“A meal ticket for life” frightens many husbands and the current thinking of Mostyn could encourage them to push for an end to spousal maintenance that is a finite period e.g. two years or five years from separation and divorce.

If you are involved in family litigation or need advice on spousal maintenance Hylton-Potts in London but often working country-wide, offer highly competitive fixed fees and expert advice.

Rodney Hylton-Potts is a recognised expert in these areas and you can speak to him directly on the helpline free of charge and in complete confidence or send him an e-mail.

Experience shows that the most efficient and experienced fixed fee solicitors and lawyers are in London, despite extra overheads.

The Principal Registry in London is more suitable, especially for wives, for complex or middle and upper-class divorces. The judges are far use to what other County Court might consider to be ‘high’ awards of capital and maintenance.

London judges in particular are very experienced and sophisticated when it comes to investigating assets, especially overseas companies and trusts, and anecdotally especially for wives.

London has been called the wife’s divorce capital of the world.

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