Spousal Maintenance Calculator for Australia

Compare Need With Capacity to Pay

Weekly increases are positive; reductions negative. One-off costs affect term balances only.

Use after-tax income. Record support separately using each person’s expense period.

The recipient’s shortfall is recurring expenses plus existing support paid, less after-tax income and existing support received. A positive balance means no modelled shortfall. The payer’s available surplus uses the same budget calculation, with negative results capped at zero.

Post-payment balances retain their signs. A payer already short of funds has zero available surplus, and a proposed payment makes that funding gap larger. The tool lets you examine that outcome without presenting negative capacity as money available to pay.

The default example has recipient income of $700 and expenses of $1,000 each week. The payer earns $2,000 and spends $1,500. The model shows a $300 shortfall and $500 available surplus. Paying $200 leaves the recipient $100 short and the payer $300 above expenses.

These calculations compare entered budgets. They do not select reasonable expenditure or assess assets and earning capacity. The Federal Circuit and Family Court’s maintenance guidance explains how need and capacity sit within the wider legal assessment.

Put Expenses on the Same Period

Use after-tax income. Support receipts and commitments use each person’s expense period. Enter them separately from category expenses. Your entries stay in this tab and clear on reload.

The worksheet uses 52 weeks, 26 fortnights and 12 months per year. Multiply a weekly figure by 52, then divide by 26 for a fortnight or 12 for a month. Divide annual amounts by 52 to find their weekly equivalent.

For example, $200 a week equals $400 a fortnight, $867 a month or $10,400 a year. Calculations retain full precision until display. These equal-period conventions differ from counting actual pay dates in a calendar year.

Convert each bill to the selected expense period before entering category totals. A $1,200 annual insurance bill is $23 a week after rounding. Keep the source amount and its period in your supporting schedule.

Record child support actually received or paid in the support fields. Do not include it again in income or category expenses. Enter one-off costs in the separate scenario fields. A recurring housing payment already included under Housing must stay out of Other recurring expenses.

Model a Maintenance Payment

This worksheet models cash flow. It does not calculate a legal entitlement or predict a court order. A positive surplus is a budget figure. The court separately assesses reasonable expenses, financial resources and legal conditions. Changed term balances assume every entered change applies for the full duration.

Enter weekly increases as positive amounts and reductions as negative amounts. These changes apply throughout the scenario. One-off costs reduce the term balance only.

A proposed payment adds the same weekly amount to the recipient’s balance that it subtracts from the payer’s balance. The tool does not cap your proposal at the shortfall or surplus. An excessive proposal therefore remains visible in the resulting budgets.

Use the optional changes to compare a different income or housing assumption with the starting budgets. For example, a $100 weekly recipient income increase and a $50 housing cost increase improve the default post-payment balance from negative $100 to negative $50.

The default $200 weekly proposal over six months totals $5,200. The term uses 52 divided by 12 weeks per month. It assumes an unchanged payment throughout, with no interest, tax adjustment or inflation.

Changed term balances multiply the changed weekly balance by the modelled weeks, then subtract that person’s one-off costs. A duration is your cash-flow assumption. It establishes neither the duration of a legal obligation nor an enforceable order.

Use the Worksheet in an Australian Matter

Support the entries with payslips, bank statements and tax records. Use rental agreements or loan statements for housing and bills for recurring expenses. Identify transfers between a person’s own accounts before treating deposits as income.

The Family Court of Western Australia’s maintenance hearing preparation guidance identifies financial records required for its hearings. Keep the worksheet beside the records that support each figure.

Searches for a NSW or Queensland spousal maintenance calculator lead to the same budget arithmetic. The Family Law Act 1975 governs spousal maintenance and the federal de facto framework. Western Australian de facto maintenance falls under the Family Court Act 1997. Jurisdiction and relationship requirements need separate assessment. Neither state label creates a payment formula in this worksheet.

The spousal maintenance guide explains the evidence and legal conditions behind an application. Use this worksheet to compare a supported proposal with each person’s actual budget.