After divorce, two forms of maintenance may require payments beyond marriage: post-divorce spousal maintenance and child maintenance.
Child maintenance
Maintenance is generally payable for minor children if the other spouse provides most care. It may continue for adult children who have not completed initial education or training, where reasonably affordable.
Post-divorce maintenance
Post-divorce maintenance means payments to a former spouse. These are payments that not are not for the children's costs, but for those of the former spouse. Although such awards have become more restrictive, entitlement may still exist in some circumstances.
Previously, marriages lasting around 10 years or involving children were generally regarded as having a lasting impact, which was the prerequisite for maintenance up to the standard of living enjoyed during marriage.
The definition has changed. It now depends on an overall assessment of several factors. A common example is:
A marriage has a lasting impact on economic circumstances where a spouse gave up economic independence under a shared life plan, for example leaving work to manage the household and care for children, and after a long marriage cannot resume their former career (BGE 5A_568/2021).
A marriage with a lasting impact no longer automatically entails maintenance. Payments are required only if the spouse in need cannot support themselves despite using their full earning capacity.
There is no single answer to 'What must I pay after divorce?' Child maintenance generally covers the children's costs where the other spouse provides most care. For spousal maintenance, consider whether the marriage had a lasting impact on economic circumstances, for example because a spouse left work for family responsibilities and cannot readily return. Then consider whether they can nevertheless support themselves through employment. If not, they may be entitled, depending on the other spouse's finances, to maintenance up to the marital standard of living.
If the answer to the first question is no, the position is different. In a marriage without a lasting impact on economic circumstances the financially weaker spouse is not entitled to maintain the previous standard of living. Maintenance is awarded only for a marriage-related economic disadvantage, and at most to restore the position they would have occupied without marrying. In many cases no spousal maintenance is payable.
In short: After divorce, payments may include child maintenance, generally from the parent not providing most care, and spousal maintenance. Under recent case law, the latter generally requires a marriage with a lasting impact on economic circumstances and an inability of the financially weaker spouse to support themselves.