Variation of court order

Good afternoon,

My partner was ordered by court a couple years ago to pay his ex £400 per month as maintenance until she dies or remarries when the ex retires next year at 66. He found out that she had inherited £300k earlier this year. He is applying for the variation of the court order as she is now financially better off than him. He says it will cost him 20k and he already has the first hearing date. Is it worth ? What is likely to happen as the outcome ? They were married only for 9 years later in their life and no children was involved. She claimed she was too depressed to work at the time of their divorce.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thank you.

I would think the most obvious answer is that if £400 multiplied by the number of months your partner has to pay until retirement equals less than the expected legal costs, it wouldn't be worth fighting it. Ie if he only has to pay for another 10 months, it will cost him £4000 in payments.

Thank you for your prompt reply.

He is supposed to start paying her £400 per month when she reaches at 66 next year .. until she dies ( or remarries ). So, it could be another 30 years.

My question was - it it likely the court accept his request ?

Thank you again.

I think it would help to know the precise terms of the order.

If these are payments that start on his retirement it may be some sort of pension sharing arrangement. This is different from spousal maintenance which is based on a:need and b: ability to pay.

If it is SM and circumstances have changed so a variation is appropriate then an application is worth considering. I would strongly suggest you take legal advice before embarking on this route.

Hadenoughnow