How long must I pay maintenance?

If the court orders a husband to pay maintenance to his wife until she remarries or a further court order is made, when does the court decide that enough is enough? Ex husbands can be paying maintenance for many years and sometimes feel aggrieved that an ex wife still benefits. On the other hand, the ex wife could feel that her standard of living no longer matches her ex husband’s.

The case of David Vaughan illustrates the dilemma. David married Philippa in 1967 and they separated in 1981 without children. They divorced in 1985 and David remarried. In 1989 the court ordered that David pay maintenance of £27,000 per annum.

By 2010 the couple had been divorced for 25 years, David was 71 and Philippa 66. David’s ill health meant his income had dramatically reduced. He lived with his second wife in a property worth over £4 million but with 2 children at University, accepted that he should downsize. Philippa lived alone in a four bedroomed home worth over £1 million. She no longer earned an income but had received an inheritance of which she retained £380,000. David applied to the court to stop paying maintenance but Philippa countered with a request that she receive one payment of £560,000 instead of ongoing payments.

The Court of Appeal decided that once he downsized, David’s income from all sources, including investment, would be between £69,000 and £83,000 per annum and that he could afford to support both his first and second wives. The court said it should not give priority to one wife over the other, deciding that Philippa needed £48,000 per annum to support herself and had a shortfall of £16,000 per annum after her pension and investment income was taken into account. The Court of Appeal indicated that she should use £2,000 per year from investments to help meet her needs and David should pay £215,000 to “capitalise” or buy out her maintenance claim.

Despite the parties having been married for 14 years and divorced for 25, David still had to pay a lump sum of £215,000, equating to £14,000 p.a.

The moral of the tale is that requests to vary or end maintenance orders should be fully investigated by family law experts before court proceedings are commenced. The court will not end maintenance orders purely by reason of longevity. However, it will consider the parties’ circumstances before deciding what the ex-husband can afford to pay and what the ex-wife needs.

If you need advice on any aspect of family law, contact Emma Brunning at Birkett Long LLP on 01245 453846 or emma.brunning@birkettlong.co.uk