21 February 2020
Spousal maintenance – Urgent or interim
I am acting for a wife in a property settlement and a parenting matter. The parties recently separated and the husband left the matrimonial home.
The wife is a full-time mother taking care of their two young children. The husband controls the finances and is not paying the wife any living expenses.
The wife urgently needs money to support herself and her children. I believe the wife can file a child support application but it would not be sufficient.
What application can be filed with the court for immediate payments to be made to the wife?
Thank you for the question.
The wife needs to immediately apply for child support at Services Australia.
The wife also needs to make an application for spousal maintenance. This can be done as an application for urgent spousal maintenance under s 77 of the Family Law Act 1975 or an interim application for spousal maintenance under s 72 . The appropriate application to make depends on the facts of the case.
An application for urgent spousal maintenance is appropriate only in circumstances where ‘the party is in immediate need of financial assistance’ and an order may be made without a hearing of the merits of the case in any great detail. It is a 'stop-gap' order, as opposed to interim maintenance which is determined once both parties have had the opportunity to file material.
The husband needs to be contacted in writing with a request for an urgent payment before filing material. The client's material can be prepared in the meantime on the assumption that the husband will not pay.
Regards
Mentor
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