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Maintenance orders are not suspended while their validity is challenged

Last reviewed: September 13, 2026 — VerifiedPoder Judicial

In short

Article 454 lets the court impose a provisional pension on the spouse who has own goods, in benefit of the one lacking sufficient economic resources for their sustenance during the process. The amount must be proportional to the paying spouse’s economic capacity and in line with the family’s social position, and must cover the claimant’s pressing and essential needs and the litigation costs. The article closes with a sentence worth reading before negotiating: the paying spouse has no right to claim restitution of what was paid on either count. Article 456 limits changes: provisional precautionary measures may only be modified judicially when the circumstances that gave rise to them are substantially altered or when they are no longer adequate to serve the protected interest; and the court may establish real or personal guarantees to secure compliance. Article 457 fixes their duration: measures agreed by the spouses or adopted by the court run until the divorce judgment becomes firm, unless the court provides otherwise. Article 458 is the one that most protects whoever depends on an order: provisional measures concerning the care and maintenance of the children and of the spouse in need of sustenance admit neither interruption nor suspension while the recourse questioning their validity is being ventilated. Article 459 stretches whatever is needed beyond the judgment: measures on conserving the family home and administering and disposing of the common goods may be kept in force after the divorce, at either ex-spouse’s request, until all controversies over the liquidation are finally adjudicated. And Article 460 allows modifying them if the liquidation suit begins, with a clear warning: while the measure in force is not judicially modified or suspended, the ex-spouses remain subject to its terms.

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What is it?

They are Articles 454 and 456 to 460 of the Civil Code of 2020: the provisional pension between spouses and how long the divorce measures last, how they change, and until when they run.

Who can do it?

Either spouse subject to a provisional measure in a divorce, before or after judgment.

Requirements

Documents you need

Cost

Check the current cost with the official agency.

Step by step

  1. Step 1: Ask for the provisional pension if you need it

    Article 454: imposed on the spouse with own goods in benefit of the one without sufficient resources.

  2. Step 2: Include the litigation costs

    The same article says the pension must cover pressing and essential needs and the litigation costs.

  3. Step 3: What is paid is not returned

    The paying spouse has no right to claim restitution of what was paid on either count.

  4. Step 4: If they appeal, maintenance continues

    Article 458: it admits no interruption or suspension while the recourse challenging it is pending.

  5. Step 5: To change it, show the change

    Article 456: only if circumstances are substantially altered or the measure is no longer adequate.

  6. Step 6: Count how long they last

    Article 457: until the divorce judgment becomes firm, unless the court provides otherwise.

  7. Step 7: Ask to extend them if dividing remains

    Article 459: those on the home and common-goods administration may run until liquidation is adjudicated.

  8. Step 8: And comply while they are in force

    Article 460: until judicially modified or suspended, the ex-spouses remain subject to their terms.

Where to do it

These articles do not describe the court procedure. The Code does not say here what counts as a substantial alteration of circumstances, which is the key to modifying a measure. It does not explain what the family’s social position means in fixing the provisional pension’s amount. It does not say how the post-judgment extension of Article 459 is requested or with what pleading. And it does not deal here with the ex-spouse’s pension after the divorce, which is Articles 466 to 468, covered separately on this site. None of those gaps is filled here.

How long it takes

Check the current processing time with the official agency.

What to do if something goes wrong

The article most people need to know here is 458, and it tends to be discovered exactly when it is most needed. It says provisional measures concerning the care and maintenance of the children and of the spouse in need of sustenance admit neither interruption nor suspension while the recourse questioning their validity is being ventilated. Translated: challenging the order does not switch it off. Whoever depends on that maintenance is not left without it while the recourse proceeds, and whoever must pay does not stop owing it by having appealed. The second is 454, for its last sentence: the paying spouse has no right to claim restitution of what was paid, neither the pension nor the litigation costs. That is worth knowing before negotiating, because it changes the calculation on both sides. And note this provisional pension is meant for the spouse without sufficient resources during the process, with an amount proportional to the payer’s economic capacity; it is not the same as the ex-spouse’s pension after the divorce, which has its own articles. To change any measure, Article 456 does not accept mere second thoughts: the circumstances that gave rise to it must be substantially altered or it must no longer be adequate for the protected interest, and the court may also require real or personal guarantees to secure compliance. On duration, Article 457’s rule is that all this lives until the divorce judgment becomes firm. But there is a very useful exception almost nobody asks for: Article 459 allows keeping in force, after the judgment and at either ex-spouse’s request, the measures on conserving the family home and on administering and disposing of the common goods, until all the liquidation’s controversies are adjudicated. If the divorce is decreed but dividing remains, that extension avoids months of vacuum. And meanwhile, Article 460 recalls the obvious and the enforceable: until a court modifies or suspends it, the measure in force binds. MiPRFácil does not represent anyone in court and gives no legal advice.

Common mistakes

  • Stopping maintenance payments because the order was appealed: Article 458 admits no suspension.
  • Counting on recovering the provisional pension paid: Article 454 denies restitution.
  • Forgetting that pension must also cover the litigation costs.
  • Confusing it with the ex-spouse’s pension after the divorce, which has its own articles.
  • Asking to modify a measure with no substantial alteration of circumstances.
  • Treating all measures as over at judgment: Article 459 allows extending some.
  • Not asking for that extension when liquidation remains, and losing the rule on the home.
  • Breaching a measure in force expecting it to lapse: until modified, it binds.

Frequently asked questions

The maintenance order was appealed. Is it suspended?

No. Article 458 says those measures admit no interruption or suspension while the challenging recourse is pending.

How long do provisional measures last?

Article 457 keeps them until the divorce judgment becomes firm, unless the court provides otherwise.

May I stay in the house after judgment?

Article 459 allows keeping those measures in force, at either ex-spouse’s request, until liquidation is adjudicated.

Will the provisional pension I paid be returned?

No. Article 454 says the paying spouse has no right to claim restitution of what was paid.

Official sources

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

Last verified

September 13, 2026

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