Child support is the money paid by the non resident parent to the parent with care to help pay for their children's everyday living costs. Child support can be a private arrangement, an agreement via mediation, in consultation with your legal representatives or via a calculation through the Child Support Agency (CSA).
Maintenance is payable to your spouse throughout your joint lives and until your spouse remarries or there is a Court Order terminating that right. Maintenance payments are known as ‘maintenance pending suit’ up to the date of Decree Nisi and thereafter as periodical payments.
Maintenance Orders can also be limited in time, so that they terminate on a certain date. Each case will depend upon your individual situation.