Spousal maintenance - anyone asked for it?

[Sasquatch75]

I've recently started divorce proceedings... My husband left for ow 6 months ago... My solicitor says asking for £500pcm wouldn't be unreasonable, but I feel a bit uneasy about it, even though I hate him for what he did to our family.

Has anyone else gone down this route? Did it make things even more difficult between you and your ex? We have young children so unfortunately I still have to have contact with him.

[QOD]

No, my sister has gone for the entire house, half his shares and child support.
She could have taken half house, half pension and spousal but really just wants a clear cut.

[Amicus1966]

I didn't even know spousal maintenance still existed. Surely exDH s only have to pay for DCs nowadays, no ?

[PfftTheMagicDraco]

Of course it still exists. In situations where you have been a SAHP, or there is a large disparity in incomes due to child rearing, spousal maintenance is generally paid.

It's not about punishing him for what he has done to you, OP, it's about leaving you both in an equal position so you can provide for your family. If you don't have assets to divide out in an unequal manner to make this fairness, you could look to spousal maintenance.

[GeeandTea]

I was advised to go for a nominal spousal maintenance (as little as £10 pcm) as what he pays for dc is a percentage of salary. Therefore if he loses job, or has more children as this would affect percentage, I could then apply for an increase in spousal. Apparently that's a lot easier to get than I I didn't have spousal at all in the first place. I wouldn't go down that route if he genuinely had lost job/ was hard up, but xh can be flakey so it guards against him deciding it would be easier to jack in job and not pay me anything. HTH.

[millymolls]

spousal maintenance does still exist and the likelihood of whether you would get it depends on lots of factors - age, length of marriage, earning potentials of both parents, other assets. I've seen on MN of people being awarded it but in RL amongst friends and family I have generally seen only interim, short term maintenance awarded (i.e. maybe a couple of years to get on your feet, find work etc)
Personally I would prefer a clean break but this depends on assets involved and whether this is possible....I think courts also generally favour clean break where possible - can you get higher % of assets?

What sort of Child maintenance would you be receiving (in addition to the proposed £500pm?) what % of net monthly salary would this total be? If that is 50% of his total as example its probably unrealistic but if he is a very high earner maybe not