Hong Kong law provides that a party can apply for interim maintenance which is commonly referred to as “maintenance pending suit”, or “MPS”. MPS is a form of maintenance where one party to a divorce is ordered to pay the other party a regular sum of money pending the final divorce decree being granted.
An MPS order is designed to fill the gap between the time of the filing of the divorce petition until the final divorce decree is made. During this period of time which can be significant, one party may not have sufficient means to cover their basic ongoing and immediate needs.
Any MPS order will be provisional, and will be replaced by the court’s final order, at the conclusion of the proceedings.
An MPS order :
- Will not last beyond the final divorce decree.
- Will terminate in any event upon the death of either party.
- Is subject to variation, and
- the amount of MPS is not necessarily any indication of the amount of periodical payments which the court may order following the final divorce decree.
To determine how much MPS should be paid, the court will take a “broad brush” approach as to the party’s financial needs and the court will not engage into a detailed audit of the couple’s finances. Instead, the court will make an award in accordance with what is reasonable given the immediate and ongoing needs of the parties.