How Can I Reduce Payments To Ex-Wife?

Source : The Sunday Times, September 9, 2007

Q. I SETTLED my divorce this year. In the papers, we agreed on my monthly maintenance payments to my former wife and two children, totalling about $2,200. This is about 30 per cent of my monthly salary.

On top of this, I am also paying for expenses such as insurance, school fees and other miscellaneous items for my children.

After taking into account my car loan, expenses for my parents, daily expenditure and so on, I am left financially tight every month.

I would like to buy a new home and start a family and have children with my girlfriend. We also have plans to invest in properties other than our home. I would like to seek your professional advice on the following:

If I were to re-marry and start a new family, based on the above information, would I be able to reduce the monthly maintenance?

What will the judgment be based on? Will my personal income or my household income - that is, including my new wife’s income - be taken into consideration?

What are the procedures I have to take? Will my investments in more than one property affect the reduction of the maintenance?

My former wife requested an amount to be paid to her monthly out of the $2,200 and I understand that I will have to pay this until she remarries.

However, if she never remarries, is there any way I can stop paying her since she is working and earns a fairly good income?

A. IF YOU are thinking of reducing the monthly maintenance for your children and former wife, you will have to apply to the court to vary the existing maintenance order. This is usually done with the help of lawyers.

The court will look at the circumstances of the case to decide if there has been a material change since the making of the existing maintenance order to warrant a review of the monthly maintenance amount.

The court applies different considerations in the variation of the monthly maintenance for the children as compared to the monthly maintenance for your former wife.

Where the monthly maintenance for the children is concerned, the interest and welfare of the children are paramount. The court is loath to reduce the monthly maintenance for the children unless the material change in circumstances involves a reduction of earnings, such as losing one’s job.

If you are remarrying and starting a new family (a material change), the court is more likely to reduce the maintenance amount payable to your former wife. This is especially the case where she is working and earning a fairly good income.

If your wife never remarries and she is working, the court may consider reducing the maintenance amount payable to her to a nominal sum.

Ang Kim Lan Director Goodwins Law Corporation

Advice provided in this column is not meant as a substitute for comprehensive professional advice.