Budgets

If your costs/outgoings are reasonable I wouldn''t worry to much. It extravagence or unnecessary spend that will be challenged by the opposition/judge.

If your reasonable outgoings are more than your income, I would have thought spousal maintenance highly unlikely. If you want someone to be able to give a more accurate idea if you will be likely to need to pay spousal maintenance an idea of your respective incomes would be needed.

I think you have to show you are being ''reasonable''

If you eat out 3 times a week, buy jeans with a £80 price tag and spend money having city breaks away each month - I would class that as ''unreasonable'' if you claim you are skint every month and your stbx is unable to pay all the utility bills.

Your stbx will have to show being reasonable too.

I know of a Wikivorce member who showed a £0 for holiday budget and his stbx showed a ''need'' for a £4k pa holiday budget. The Judge simply said what''s good for him is good for you, so that was wiped.

The same stbx said she was skint every month, but had bank statements showing she ate out every lunch and spent hundreds on beauty treatments every month - it''s hard to say you can''t make ends meet when the paperwork shows something different.

It''s accepted that both parties lifestyle will be reduced, but one shouldn''t flourish at the detriment of the other.

Its not about making sure your money is accounted for - it''s making sure your budget reflects your bank statements and that you are prioritising your spending on essentials. The spreadsheet is to assist you.

WR

To add to what White Rose has said, a judge will certainly expect an equality in expenditure. My ex''s outgoings were over his income, were they reasonable, no! Mine were less than half his and the judge ordered maintenance payments to the level I required despite my ex making out he couldn''t afford to do so. There was a huge differential in income and my ex was also a high earner both of these factors were important in the judges final decision.