The maintenance claim: wife and children, increase and loss
The maintenance (nafaqa) claim is among the most frequent cases before the Personal Status Court in Baghdad, and the same questions keep coming back: how much, from when, and what ends it. The office of lawyer Ali Barakat explains here what Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959 provides for a wife's maintenance, for children and for relatives, and how an increase or reduction is sought.
When a wife's maintenance is owed
Article 23 provides that maintenance is owed to the wife by the husband from the time of a valid contract, even if she lives in her family's home, unless the husband asks her to move to his home and she refuses without right. Her refusal is considered rightful as long as the husband has not paid her prompt dower or has not maintained her.
Article 24 treats the maintenance of a wife who is not disobedient as a debt owed by the husband for a period of up to one year from the time he stopped providing it. Maintenance covers food, clothing, housing and its necessities, medical care to a reasonable extent, and household help where women in her position usually have it.
When the wife is not entitled
Article 25 sets out cases with no maintenance: where she leaves the marital home without permission and without lawful reason, is imprisoned for a crime or debt, or refuses to travel with her husband without lawful excuse. The same article protects the wife against abuse. She is not bound to obey, and is not considered disobedient, where the husband acts arbitrarily intending to harm her. Examples include failing to provide a proper home suited to their situation, a home so far from her workplace that she cannot reconcile her duties, furniture that does not belong to the husband, or an illness preventing her from living with him. The court must take its time before ruling a wife disobedient, until it understands why she refuses.
How maintenance is assessed and changed
Under article 27, a wife's maintenance is assessed according to the means of both spouses. Article 28 allows maintenance to be increased or reduced when the spouses' finances change or the cost of living in the country changes, and a claim to increase or reduce an awarded amount is admissible when emergencies require it. An earlier judgment does not close the door: if the husband's income or the needs of the wife or children change, a new claim can be filed with proof of the change.
Under article 31, while the claim is pending the judge may set interim maintenance for the wife, which is enforceable and follows the outcome of the final judgment, being credited or refunded accordingly. This helps where a case runs long and the wife has no income.
An absent husband and accumulated maintenance
Where a husband leaves his wife without maintenance and disappears, is absent or goes missing, the judge awards her maintenance from the date the claim is filed. She must first prove the marriage and swear that he left her no maintenance and that she is neither disobedient nor a divorcee whose waiting period has ended. The judge may also authorise her to borrow in his name when needed, under article 29. Article 32 provides that accumulated maintenance is not lost by divorce or by the death of either spouse.
A maintenance judgment is enforced through the Execution Directorate under Execution Law No. 45 of 1980. A husband who refuses to pay accumulated maintenance awarded by judgment, after a grace period, gives the wife a ground for judicial separation under article 43.
Maintenance during the waiting period
Under article 50, a living husband owes maintenance during the waiting period to his divorced wife even if she was disobedient, and there is no maintenance for the waiting period after death. A wife in a revocable talaq remains a wife in law during the waiting period; the types of talaq are explained on the divorce registration page.
Children's maintenance
Article 58 begins with the rule that each person is maintained from his own property, except the wife, whose maintenance is on her husband. Article 59 then provides that a child without property is maintained by the father, unless the father is poor and unable to provide or earn. Children's maintenance continues until a daughter marries and a son reaches the age at which boys like him earn a living, unless he is a student. An adult son unable to earn is treated as a minor. Where the father cannot pay, the person who would owe maintenance in his absence is charged with it, and it becomes a debt on the father, recoverable when he can pay, under article 60.
A child's maintenance in custody is linked to custody and the custodian's allowance, covered on the custody and visitation page.
Parents and relatives
A well-off child, adult or minor, must maintain poor parents even if they can earn, unless the father has shown he insists on choosing unemployment, under article 61. Every poor person unable to earn is maintained by well-off relatives who would inherit from him, in proportion to their share, under article 62. Maintenance of relatives is awarded from the date of the claim, under article 63, so waiting to file means losing the earlier period.
Legal basis and sources
- Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959, as amended, articles 23 to 33, 50 and 58 to 63 (Official Gazette, issue 280 of 30/12/1959)
- Execution Law No. 45 of 1980 (Official Gazette, issue 2762 of 17/3/1980)
Frequently asked questions
From what date is a wife's maintenance counted?
It is owed from the valid contract and is a debt on the husband for up to one year from when he stopped paying. For an absent husband it is awarded from the date the claim is filed.
Can maintenance be increased after judgment?
Yes. Article 28 allows an increase or reduction when finances or the cost of living change, or emergencies arise.
Is accumulated maintenance lost on divorce?
No. Article 32 provides that it survives divorce and death.
Related topics and articles
- 01Judicial separation and its grounds before the Personal Status CourtGrounds for judicial separation under articles 40 to 45 of Iraq's Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959: harm, discord and arbitration, wife's grounds, and effect.
- 02Custody and visitation: custody age and when custody endsCustody and visitation under article 57 of Iraq's Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959: the mother's priority, custodian conditions, ages ten and fifteen, transfer.
- 03Registering a divorce in court, and revocable versus irrevocable talaqRegistering talaq at the Personal Status Court under article 39 of Iraq's Law No. 188 of 1959, when talaq does not take effect, proxies, and article 38 types.
- 04Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959: what applies todayReading Iraq's Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959 as amended: articles 1 and 2, Law No. 1 of 2025, and the Jaafari code ratified by Decision No. 10 of 2025.
- 05Prompt and deferred dower (mahr)Dower rules in articles 19 to 22 of Iraq's Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959: named and proper dower, prompt and deferred parts, when the deferred part falls due.