In awarding maintenance recently to a surviving spouse, the High Court established two principles of great practical relevance: -

1. Any financial assistance that the survivor may receive from third parties (in this case, two sons were making voluntary contributions towards their mother’s living expenses) must be excluded from a calculation of her “means and earnings”.  So you can’t prejudice someone’s maintenance claim by helping them make ends meet.

2. A survivor cannot be awarded a lump sum by way of maintenance – the deceased estate must provide periodical (normally monthly) maintenance payments until death or remarriage.  This is likely to cause major practical problems for both executors and heirs – how much do they keep back to cover the future maintenance obligation?  How do they finalise the estate?  Avoid the problem by drawing your Will so as to provide your spouse with sufficient means to cover his/her “reasonable maintenance needs”.