Interim spousal maintenance — Family Proceedings Act 1980, s 82 — Hodson v Hodson [2012] NZFLR 252 — Ropiha v Ropiha [1979] 2 NZLR 245. Pursuant to s 82 of the Act, the Judge made an interim spousal maintenance order whereby the respondent was required to pay the applicant $200.00 per week for 26 weeks commencing from the judgment release date. Interim maintenance decisions tend to involve situations where the parties have recently separated but have yet to conclude property division, thereby requiring assistance in meeting any financial shortfall during that transition period. The wife’s application in these proceedings arose out of such circumstances. Hodson confirmed the key factors requiring consideration under s 82 as the reasonable needs of the applicant over the period the order would subsist, the means likely to be available to the applicant to meet those needs herself and the respondent’s reasonable means to meet any shortfall. Ropiha stated that in assessing an applicant’s needs reference should be had to the standard of living the parties had adopted for themselves. The Judge determined that neither party appeared to be pursuing a luxurious lifestyle and both were acting in a fiscally responsible manner. Hodson factors considered, the determined sum required the respondent to contribute more than he had been but significantly less than the extent sought by the applicant. The determined sum attempted to enable the applicant to live a lifestyle commensurate with that which the couple enjoyed during the marriage while recognising the financial reality of a reduction in their respective lifestyles caused by having to run two separate households. **Note: names have been changed to comply with legal requirements.