The current period for paying alimony in the Netherlands should be cut back from a standard 12 to five years, according to MPs from the two liberal parties VVD and D66 and the Labour party.

However, exceptions should remain for people who are taking care of small children or who are nearing retirement age and unable to find a job, the parties say. The draft legislation would include cutting spousal support to half the duration of the marriage, with a maximum of five years.

‘Take the situation in which children have left home. Then supporting your ex for 12 years is unjust, if your ex is capable of working,’ D66 MP Maarten Groothuizen said in a memo to parliament.

Efforts to reduce the maximum period for alimony floundered in 2016 after the Council of State said the proposal did not reflect reality. For example, the council said the parties had not taken sufficient account of the problems facing women who are left with the care of small children, pointing out it is difficult for them to find a good job.

This new proposal takes the council’s objections into account.

The three parties do not have a majority in parliament and it is unclear as yet if they could muster majority support, the NRC said.