Wife awarded interim spousal maintenance payments of $1,500 per week for 6 months

The High Court recently upheld a decision of the Family Court to award a wife interim spousal maintenance payments of $1,500 per week over 6 months.

The husband and wife were aged 50 and 40 respectively.  They had married in 1995 and separated in 2013.  For most of their married life they had enjoyed a high standard of living … including late model European cars, a classic car collection, art and wine collections, overseas holidays, and private school education for their children.  Although impacted by the GFC, they maintained a very comfortable lifestyle.

In assessing and upholding the Family Court’s earlier decision to award interim spousal maintenance, the High Court considered:

1.  The wife’s reasonable needs … (which were not to be reduced to the “bare necessities of life”) having regard to the lifestyle previously enjoyed by the parties.

However, although the Court saw it as an “inevitable result of separation that there would need to be some reduction in mutual lifestyle …” it was noted that the husband had continued to live in comparative luxury – including a recent $6,000 holiday and $5,700 cleaner’s bill.

2.  The wife’s ability to meet her needs … which were assessed as modest given her long absence from the work force (for half her life); the time necessary to adjust to her new reality; and the requirement to retrain or commence part-time employment.

This was contrasted with the husband who maintained control of the family business and had access to both income and capital. 

The wife has also attempted to gain employment post-separation but had earned only $1,500 over 6 months, and she was suffering from a form of depression that limited her ability to work.

3.  The husband’s ability to meet the shortfall between the wife’s reasonable needs and her ability to meet those needs … which required analysis of the husband’s income and access to capital through evidence presented by two accountants.

The Court noted the husband had financial flexibility available on account of his company structures; there were options available to him to restructure and reduce his outgoings; and that, despite his claim to have limited access to funds, his expenditure over the seven months preceding the hearing indicated that this was not the case and that, instead, he was simply prioritising discretionary spending over interim support of his wife.

Where an application for spousal maintenance has been made, the Court has the power to make a temporary order for interim spousal maintenance.  As opposed to the criteria required for an award of spousal maintenance, an award of interim spousal maintenance is entirely at the discretion of the Court. 

Each award of interim spousal maintenance can last for up to 6 months (and there can be more than 1 award of interim spousal maintenance made).  The applicant need only satisfy the Court that he/she has inadequate means to meet current needs such that his/her position needs to be protected by the Court as far as is reasonable in the circumstances. 

As shown by this recent case, this can result in payments up to or in excess of $1,500 a week (being $39,000) over 6 months!

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