Universal Credit and Interim Maintenance /Global Maintenance

[Winter Sun]

Hoping that someone can shed some light on whether Interim Maintenance and Global Maintenance affects Universal Credit or not, because I have not been able to get a consistent response from Universal Credit or my (Legal Aid) solicitors! Some say it would be considered like spousal maintenance, i.e. it would indeed affect Universal Credit, but others say it wouldn't. I am in need of some kind of maintenance payments as I am no longer receiving any at all, with payments having dwindled and been inconsistent for a very long time now. Finally my solicitors are preparing an application for Maintenance Pending Suit. Ex lives overseas out of UK jurisdiction (non REMO), so the CMS is irrelevant in this case. We have our final hearing set for mid next year, but struggling to manage and increasingly living on the edge, and the sole carer of the 3 children! The process is just very slow, and I suspect legal aid assistance I’ve been getting, while I’m grateful for it at all, is not as fast as it would be if I was paying for it directly. So I’ve not got clarity as to whether I can ask for just interim child maintenance, or if global maintenance (which apparently is the thing I want to go for ultimately?) is what needs to form the MPS application. If global maintenance does get considered as spousal maintenance, then I have to ask for more in the interim maintenance application, to just be in the same financial position I am in currently, as universal credit brings more benefits than just the payments, namely contributions towards childcare costs. Of course it’s all academic, as ex clearly can’t be forced to pay anything given where he is, but at least it would be nice to have a court order finally for something, some 3 years on! Thanks for any help.