What financial support (nafaqah) is a divorced woman entitled to?

During the iddah following a revocable divorce, the wife remains legally the husband's dependent and is entitled to full maintenance — housing, food, and basic needs — just as before the divorce, since the marriage has not yet fully ended. The Quran specifically instructs husbands to house divorced wives according to their means during this period and not to create hardship intended to pressure them. Once an irrevocable divorce or khula is finalized and the iddah ends, the general position in most schools is that ongoing spousal maintenance stops, since the marital bond is fully dissevered, though the Quran separately encourages husbands to provide a fair parting gift (mut'ah) to divorced women as a gesture of kindness, which some scholars treat as a moral recommendation and others, particularly in certain contemporary legal codes, as a stronger entitlement. Regardless of spousal maintenance, child support is a separate and continuing obligation: the father remains responsible for his children's financial upkeep, often paid to the mother if she has custody, for as long as the children need it.

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