Do you think I will have to pay spousal maint?

I am seperated from my wife. She has her boyfriend living with her. We both own the house that she lives in. We also jointly own the house that I live in. I am currently paying her mortgage. We are divorcing. I am at the form E stage prior to going to court.

I think she is going to ask for personal maintenence. Is she likely to get this seeing that she has a live in partner?

Chris.

You need to provide more info before I could say whether she is likely to be successful in her application for spousal maintenance.

It depends on hers and your earnings - a general rule of thumb is that if you earn more than double what she earns then SM comes into play.

Re: cohabiting. Yes this can affect whether SM is payable. But it is always tricky to prove someone is cohabiting if they are determined to avoid that happening.

In any case the impact is not that her new partners income would be taken into account - it is that his income would cover some of the bills and so she has less outgoings and therefore less need for SM.

I earn a lot more than her. My earnings are around 45K before tax whilst she is on benifits. She is registered disabled but she is sponging. She claims a bad back but there is nothing wrong with her. I think she gets about 9K a year. He BF is on about 25K a year. I pay her mortgage and mine as well. Hers is about 430 mine is 820. There is not a hell of a lot left over. I have my partner staying with me a few nights a week and most weekends. She has her own place and all letters go to hers. She pays council tax etc. She pays nothing towards her keep. I keep it this way for obvious reasons. The Tax credit system over paid us and we are having to pay this back. Its costing me about 50 per month. She has 2 kids at home but they are not mine. I dont see them so I dont look after them at all. Is this enough info to give some more advice? ChrisM