Child maintenance after divorce: protecting the promise

Maintenance means stability for the child

After a divorce, maintenance is more than a legal obligation. It is stability for the child: school, activities, clothes, health, and the sense that everyday life goes on.

Yet that stability rests on something fragile: one person’s income. If the paying parent faces a serious health problem or a period when they cannot work, the income can fall or stop. The obligation stays; the ability to meet it does not always.

The scenarios worth looking at

You do not have to dwell on the worst to plan well. It is enough to answer four questions honestly:

• If the parent dies: who will cover maintenance until the child is independent? Life insurance answers this.
• If they are permanently unable to work: permanent total disability cover can pay a lump sum that supports their commitments.
• If they are diagnosed with a serious illness: critical illness cover pays a sum on diagnosis, when costs rise and income often falls.
• If they stop working for a few months: income protection can replace part of their salary for as long as they cannot work.

These covers are best looked at together, so the promise to the child does not depend on luck alone. For how a life cover amount is worked out, see Life insurance: an act of care.

Who is the beneficiary

One thing often forgotten after a divorce is who the beneficiaries of existing policies are. A policy taken out while the couple were together may still name the former spouse. That may serve the child, or it may not. It is worth checking and, if needed, changing it deliberately.

When the child is a minor, who manages the money on their behalf is a legal question. Talk to your lawyer about the right wording, and to your insurance advisor about the amount and length of cover.

One more point: the parent who receives maintenance has a stake in this too. If the child lives mainly with them, their own income and protection matter just as much.

Why it matters to you

A child needs continuity, not financial uncertainty every time something happens to a parent. After a divorce the family has already been through a big change: two homes instead of one, double the fixed costs, often less in savings. A second blow, such as an illness or an accident, hits harder.

The cover does not need to last for life. It needs to last as long as the obligation does: until the child finishes their studies or can stand on their own feet.

What you can do now

• Work out the total maintenance due until the age set in the agreement or court order: the monthly amount times the months remaining.
• List all your life, health and disability policies and check who the beneficiary is on each one.
• See how far your income would fall if you stopped working for six months, using the income gap calculator.
• If you are the parent who receives maintenance, ask for its protection to be discussed as part of the agreement, with your lawyer’s help.
• Ask your accountant which parent will claim the child deductions introduced by the 2026 tax reform.
• Book an appointment to look at the amount and length of cover based on your own figures.