Nominal Maintenance Order

I have pretty much agreed financials with my ex. In effect she is getting all the equity in the house and I am paying the csa amount for the children plus a little extra. In return I have requested no claim on future earnings, pension and equity (which are all at risk in their nature). There is no spousal maintenance as she is planning to live with her new bloke. We are both happy with this split.

However my solicitor mentioned that the court may award a nominal maintenance order (5p per year) so that the ex could have a claim my against income until my son is 18 (he is currently 10). I assume this means that she could apply to the court to vary that part of the order in the future if her circumstances were such that it was necessary.

1. Based on the agreement above (she is getting a substantial lump sum and payment for the children) how likely is this to occur.

2. If the court were to award this is there anything I can/should do.

Thanks in advance.

Short answer, sir, is resist a nominal order if you can. If you want to know why, have a look at the blogs on this site under the heading ' Second Bite at the Cherry ? '

Mike

It seems in some areas courts insist on nominal SM as a matter of course, so if your sol has mentioned it you're most unlikely to avoid it whatever the settlement is. All you can do is ensure it is time limited to the youngest child reaching 18.

How can a court impose nominal spousal maintenance in a Consent Order?
I thought the Consent Order was supposed to be the record of an agreement between you ?

Hi all , My soliciter mentioned NSM to me. I was quite shocked as she now earns more than me & has greater earning potential. Surely if anybody should get a NSM order it should be me , as I,m the one whos always staring redundancy in the face every year. Dont the system suck !!!

Dobbs.

airdranter wrote:

It seems in some areas courts insist on nominal SM as a matter of course, so if your sol has mentioned it you're most unlikely to avoid it whatever the settlement is. All you can do is ensure it is time limited to the youngest child reaching 18.

Yep they do in Canterbury !!!!

"How can a court impose nominal spousal maintenance in a Consent Order?
I thought the Consent Order was supposed to be the record of an agreement between you ?"

The court will only approve a consent order if it's deemed fair to both parties, so there is a choice of agreeing to nominal SM as the judge suggests or not getting a consent order and the court imposing it.


"Surely if anybody should get a NSM order it should be me"

Usually nominal SM is to support to the main carer to provide security for the children should circumstances change and the main carer lose their job or contract an illness which prevents them from working etc.