Interim maintenance

Interim maintenance is temporary support ordered during divorce proceedings, or where a spouse lives apart for just cause, to secure the subsistence of the spouse and children. In divorce cases the judge orders the necessary measures of their own motion, even without a request.

It runs as a rule from the filing date and lasts until the divorce judgment becomes final. Fault is not examined at this stage; what matters is the parties' financial situations and needs. Upon finality it may convert into post-divorce alimony for the spouse and child support for the children.

A spouse living apart for just cause without any divorce case, such as where cohabitation cannot be established, may also claim this maintenance for themselves and the children in their care. Amounts ordered by interim decision may be enforced upon non-payment, with accrued sums pursued through ordinary enforcement.