- the financial needs of the wife or child;
- the income, earning capacity (if any), property and other financial resources of the wife or child;
- any physical or mental disability of the wife or child;
- the age of each party to the marriage and the duration of the marriage;
- the contributions made by each of the parties to the marriage to the welfare of the family, including any contribution made by looking after the home or caring for the family;
- the standard of living enjoyed by the wife or child before the husband or parent, as the case may be, neglected or refused to provide reasonable maintenance for the wife or child;
- in the case of a child, the manner in which he was being, and in which the parties to the marriage expected him to be, educated or trained; and
- the conduct of each of the parties to the marriage, if the conduct is such that it would in the opinion of the court be inequitable to disregard it.
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In summary, the two dominant factors that the court considers are:
- The financial needs of the child/spouse; and
- The ability of the parent who is being sued for maintenance to meet these needs
Children’s maintenance
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Wife’s income was $600 |
Applied for child’s maintenance to be increased from $150 to $700 |
Child’s expenses was $800 |
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Husband’s income was $2200, take home pay: $1700 |
Husband remarried and had two young children from second marriage |
Husband’s expenses was $1400 |
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Court’s decision: $375 |
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Wife’s income was $1200 |
Wife used to be earning $7000 a month. But can now only work part time at night as she spends the day caring for the children |
Child’s expenses was allegedly $4400. In any case, wife demonstrated financial need in her having to desperately sell her car at a significant undervalue |
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Husband’s income was officially $4000. |
Husband’s income was likely to be much more, from a business on the side |
Husband’s expenses was $1400 |
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Court’s decision: $2500 |
Spouse’s maintenance
