“I am already paying child support for my children. Do I need to provide financial support for my ex-partner as well? If yes, for how long do I need to support my ex-partner?”
Child Support
Both parents have a legal obligation to provide financial support to their children until their 18th birthday. This is also referred to as child support which is assessed by the Child Support Agency.
Spousal Maintenance
The second type of financial support which your ex-partner may be eligible for is known as spousal maintenance. This arises only in certain circumstances. It is usually when one partner is unable to meet their own day-to-day needs either because they care for young children or they are unable to work because of an illness, disability or because they have been out of the workforce for so long and have no relevant experience, skills, training or appropriate qualifications to get a job.
Where there are legitimate circumstances, one partner may be required to pay spousal maintenance to the other partner for a certain period of time.
However, this is not usually an open-ended and indefinite arrangement. If your ex-partner’s or your circumstances have changed since the making of a spousal maintenance Order, you should seek legal advice to see if the Order should be modified or whether it should cease to operate altogether.
Common examples of such changes are when one partner re-partners or there is a change in your financial circumstances or commitments and you can no longer afford to continue paying spousal maintenance to your ex-partner at the same rate or at all.
Contact us to find out more or to arrange a consultation with an experienced family lawyer in Sydney.