Also known as: separate maintenance decrees · separate maintenance order · separate maintenance
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A judicial order directing one spouse to provide financial support to the other while the marriage remains legally intact. The order rests on the supported spouse's demonstrated need and the supporting spouse's ability to pay and may include liability for necessaries such as housing, medical care, and reasonable child-related expenses.
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Stella Shapiro and Seth Shapiro obtained a separate maintenance decree in March. Their child was born 240 days later. Under the applicable statute the decree triggers the presumption that Seth is the child's parent because birth occurred within 300 days of the decree's entry.
Sofia Stern secured a separate maintenance decree in State X requiring Sebastian Santos to pay monthly support. Santos later obtained an ex parte divorce in State Y. State X courts must recognize the support obligations under the prior decree when Santos seeks to enforce the divorce judgment back home.
Solomon Silver obtained a New York separate maintenance decree against his wife. After she secured an ex parte Nevada divorce he stopped payments. New York courts continued to enforce the support provisions because the separate maintenance decree created an independent obligation that survived the foreign divorce.
Scott Summers obtained a separate maintenance decree in state court ordering his wife to pay support. When enforcement became necessary he filed in federal equity court. The court exercised jurisdiction because the decree created an enforceable equitable obligation distinct from any divorce proceeding.
Sterling Dynamics held rights under a separate maintenance decree that included periodic payments secured by a lien on real property. When a subsequent purchaser claimed superior title the court treated the decree payments as an existing property interest that the buyer took subject to.
Yes. Many jurisdictions authorize a separate maintenance action that allows one spouse to obtain court-ordered support while the marriage remains intact. The action rests on the marital duty of support and does not require a concurrent dissolution petition.
Courts balance the supported spouse's reasonable need against the supporting spouse's ability to pay. Need includes funds for housing, childcare, and medical expenses. Ability encompasses salary, bonuses, and other financial resources even when some income is variable.
…certif. den. 23 N.J. 363 (1957), while the court stated that the doctrine of unclean hands may bar a cause of action for separate maintenance, it also observed that this defense was an aspect or application of the broader equitable principle that "he who seeks equity must do equity"; hence, the defendant in such an action could…
…to rest on three independent grounds: (1) New York may, consistently with the Full Faith and Credit Clause, hold that a prior separate maintenance decree
…peace against her husband, and it was necessary that she should live apart as incidental to that, the chancellor will allow her separate maintenance
…1, residing at a house owned by him there. On February 25, 1943, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts affirmed the separate maintenance decree
…(Code Civ. Proc., 597) to plaintiff's complaint for prospective and retroactive enforcement of defendant's obligations under a separate maintenance decree
Yes. One spouse may be held liable for necessaries such as food, housing, medical care, and reasonable educational expenses incurred by the other spouse. The court may incorporate this liability into the support order regardless of whether the supporting spouse expressly authorized each purchase.
Under the Uniform Parentage Act a child born not later than 300 days after entry of a decree of separate maintenance is presumed to be the child of both spouses. The presumption arises even if the marriage could later be declared invalid.
No. The support obligations created by a separate maintenance decree may survive a subsequent divorce decree. The decree represents an independent equitable obligation that continues unless modified or satisfied.