An end to meal tickets for life? Joint lives maintenance orders explained

Once dubbed a ‘meal ticket for life', joint lives maintenance orders are rarely seen in the family courts these days. There was a time when judges would routinely make such orders, stipulating the amount of spousal maintenance to be paid until either party died or the recipient remarried. The case of Mills v Mills, which I was involved in, and others like it have changed the landscape significantly, however. The Supreme Court ruled that Mr Mills should continue to pay the previously agreed maintenance but denied Mrs Mills' application for more. Orders made now tend to be much short...