"How much is the nafaqa?" is the most frequently asked question in family cases, and the correct answer begins with a statutory fact: there is no fixed percentage and no standard table that fits every file. The Saudi Personal Status Law issued by Royal Decree M/73 of 2022 and its 2025 Implementing Regulation do not set a ready-made number; they set assessment criteria that the court applies to the facts of each file. This page presents those criteria, the types of maintenance, and their rules, as part of the personal status materials on Hala Law. This is a general overview; the outcome in any file depends on the documents, the evidence, and the court's assessment.

What does nafaqa cover?

Maintenance under the law covers food, clothing, housing, and basic needs according to custom. It is neither a token amount nor an open-ended list; its frame is the basic needs as custom defines them in the family's time and place.

How does the court assess maintenance?

Maintenance is assessed by weighing three elements together:

| Criterion | Practical meaning | | --- | --- | | The condition of the person maintained | The actual needs of the wife or children: housing, education, health, living costs | | The payer's means | The real income and financial capacity of the person obliged to pay | | Economic circumstances | Time and place: the cost of living in the family's environment |

The court does not apply a single table to everyone; it looks at the payer's income, the children's needs, housing, education, health, and the family's accustomed standard of living — and the assessment remains with the trial judge. Any number or percentage circulating among the public as a general rule is therefore not part of the law.

The wife's maintenance

A wife's maintenance is owed by the husband even if the wife is wealthy, as long as the conditions of entitlement stand. The wife's wealth or employment does not, by itself, remove the husband's maintenance obligation. Whether the conditions of entitlement are met or lost in a specific case is a matter the court examines on the evidence.

The children's maintenance

Children's maintenance falls on the father where the child has no funds of their own. Its duration is not a single rigid age:

  • A son: his maintenance continues until he reaches the point at which his peers can typically earn a living.
  • A daughter: her maintenance continues until her marriage.
  • Both are subject to exceptions the court assesses.

Interim maintenance while the case is heard

Cases take time, and need does not wait. The law therefore allows a request for interim maintenance while the case is being heard, where its grounds are met — and whether those grounds are met remains for the court to assess. A maintenance claim is filed through the statement of claim service on the Najiz platform using the National Single Sign-On account.

Increasing or decreasing maintenance

A maintenance judgment is not frozen forever: an increase or decrease may be requested when circumstances change — such as a change in the payer's income or in the needs of those maintained. The law adds a time bar: a claim for increase or decrease is not heard before one year has passed from the date of the judgment, except in exceptional circumstances the court assesses.

Maintenance is a privileged debt

Ongoing maintenance for the wife, children, and parents is treated as a privileged debt, holding an advanced rank among the payer's debts. This reflects the law's view of maintenance as a living necessity, not an ordinary financial obligation.

Why is there no single answer to "how much"?

Because the three elements — the condition of the person maintained, the payer's means, and the economic circumstances — differ from one file to another. A family whose provider earns a high income in a high-cost city is not like another family in different circumstances, and children in an expensive schooling stage are not like children in other situations. This page therefore presents the assessment framework, while the figure in each file results from the trial judge's review of the documents — income records, housing commitments, education and health expenses.

When do you need a licensed lawyer?

This page is general information about the statutory texts, not an assessment of any particular case. The matter becomes a private case calling for a licensed lawyer or accredited consultant when:

  • There is a dispute over the amount of maintenance or the conditions of entitlement — questions of assessment that rest on documents and evidence.
  • You need an assessment of a request for interim maintenance during proceedings and the preparation of its grounds.
  • Circumstances have changed and a claim for increase or decrease is under consideration, with the one-year bar and its exceptional-circumstances exception.
  • Maintenance intertwines with other claims: custody, visitation, the child's housing, or enforcement of an earlier maintenance judgment.

In these situations, the court examines each file on its own facts, and the outcome depends on the documents, the evidence, and the court's assessment — not on a ready percentage or a standard table.