Application for Determination of Maintenance Obligation for a Spouse

QUESTION
Can my wife request maintenance from me during our marriage? Until when must I pay it?

ANSWER:
The maintenance obligation between spouses is regulated in § 71 of Act No. 36/2005 Coll., the Family Act (hereinafter “FA”). Pursuant to paragraph 1 of this provision:

“Spouses have a mutual maintenance obligation. If one spouse fails to fulfil this obligation, the court shall, upon the application of either of them, determine its scope so that the standard of living of both spouses is, in principle, the same. In determining the scope of the maintenance obligation, the court shall take into account the care of the household.”

This provision is based on the presumption that, during the marriage, spouses should, in principle, have the same standard of living. This follows, inter alia, from the fundamental principles of the Family Act, under which marriage is a unique union of a man and a woman, in which both spouses are equal in rights and obligations (Article 1 FA). Spouses have a mutual maintenance obligation even when divorce proceedings are already pending, when they do not live in a common household, and when they manage their finances separately.

Fulfilment of the maintenance obligation towards a spouse may also be sought by means of an application for an interim measure (§ 366 of Act No. 161/2015 Coll., the Civil Non-Contentious Procedure Code, hereinafter “CNPC”). In addition to other formal requirements, the application must describe in particular the justification and duration of the maintenance claim (§ 326(1) CNPC).

It is also important to note that in such court proceedings:

“It is not possible to determine the necessary scope of spousal maintenance by also taking into account the costs of a minor child. Maintenance for a spouse is unrelated to child maintenance; these are two distinct claims decided in separate proceedings. (…) Even a temporary reduction in income due to the COVID-19 pandemic is not automatically a reason to deny the award of maintenance in the necessary amount. It is likewise irrelevant whether the spouse requesting maintenance has a partner (boyfriend/girlfriend), as such person has no statutory obligation to support him/her, and this remains true even if they live in a shared household (Judgment of the Bratislava Regional Court, file no. 20CoP/141/2020).”

According to the cited judgment:

“Maintenance for a spouse is due at the latest until the final decision on the divorce of the marriage, after which the entitlement to maintenance for a divorced spouse arises, which may be granted on the basis of different statutory criteria than spousal maintenance.”