High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Alimony (also called maintenance (Britain) and spousal support (U.S./Canada)) is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial support to their spouse after marital separation or divorce. The obligation arises from the divorce law or family law of each country. Traditionally, alimony was paid by a husband to his former wife, but since the 1970s there have been moves in many Western countries to gender equality with a corresponding recognition that a former husband may also be entitled to alimony from his former wife.