This Practice Note provides guidance on the power of the court to vary Periodical payments (maintenance) orders, including a review of the courts’ approach to such applications and the factors it will consider. It also considers when to apply for a Variation and sets out the circumstances in which an application may be made for repayment of periodical payments, including where the payee remarries or forms a subsequent Civil partnership or on the death of the payer.

The court’s power to vary orders is set out in section 31 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) and in Schedule 5 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004), specifically CPA 2004, Sch 5 Pt 11.

On an application for variation, the court is not required to consider the matter de novo (from the beginning), rather it must conduct an exercise that is proportionate to the requirements of the case.