What Is Maintenance (Nafaqa) in Jordan and What Are Its Types?

Maintenance (nafaqa) under Jordanian law is a financial right that meets the essential needs of the entitled person, borne by whoever the law obliges to pay it. Article 59 of the Personal Status Law sets out the content of a wife's maintenance: food, clothing, housing, and medical care to the customary degree, and a servant for a wife of comparable status.

Article 59 also makes clear that maintenance is owed by the husband to his wife even if she is wealthy, and that he must pay it to her if he withholds it or his default is established. The concept extends to other kinds of maintenance, such as child support in Article 187 and relatives' maintenance in Article 197, so maintenance is not confined to the wife alone.

Maintenance is assessed according to the payer's means, whether comfortable or constrained, under Article 64; no one is burdened beyond capacity, and it does not fall below the minimum of the entitled person's need. In principle, maintenance is a recurring right aimed at a dignified life, not merely food.

Assessing the amount of maintenance and whether the conditions for entitlement are met remains within the Sharia Court's competence on the facts of each case.

This is a general explanation based on Jordanian Personal Status Law and does not replace advice from a qualified lawyer in a specific dispute.