The right to apply to the Court for an order that your spouse/de facto spouse pay spouse maintenance to you arises from Section 72(1) of the Family Law Act, which provides that:

The right to apply to the Court for an order that your spouse pay spouse maintenance to you arises from Section 72(1) of the Family Law Act, which provides that:

“a party to a marriage is liable to maintain the other party to the extent that the first mentioned party is reasonably able to do so, if and only if, that other party is unable to support herself or himself adequately whether:

• By reason of having the care and control of a child of the marriage who has attained the age of 18 years;
• By reason of age or physical or mental capacity for appropriate gainful employment; or
• for any other adequate reason.

Essentially, an application for spouse maintenance is dependent upon two criteria, namely:

1. You must establish that there is a need i.e. that you are unable to adequately support yourself; and
2. You must establish that your spouse is in a superior financial position to you and has the ability to pay spouse maintenance to you.

Note: The Court does not take into account Centrelink benefits when assessing whether you are entitled to spouse maintenance.