Spousal Maintenance

Maintenance, sometimes known as alimony or spousal support in New York, is a payment of financial support made by one spouse to the other. Married persons are responsible for the support of their spouses and, if able to do so, may be required to pay support in a sum that the court determines. Our experienced and compassionate attorneys have handled hundreds of cases involving complex custody, visitation and support issues throughout New York State.  January 2018 marked an expansion to our renowned Divorce/Family/Matrimonial practice with Florence Richardson joining the firm as Of Counsel.  Bringing decades of experience focusing exclusively in family law matters, Flo joins attorneys Will Berglund and Kelly Mikullitz to create one of the most dynamic family law practices in the state. 

Spousal Support & Maintenance in New York

Within a New York State Supreme Court matrimonial action, the court may order one spouse to pay either temporary support, permanent support or both. The New York State Family Court may also order such payments, even if a matrimonial action has not been commenced. These payments are generally called spousal support. 

Temporary Spousal Support

In a matrimonial action, the Supreme Court may make an award of temporary maintenance or spousal support, within certain guidelines and parameters, to continue while the action is pending. The court must first determine the income of each party and how much each party paid for Social Security and Medicare taxes (FICA).  A formula is then applied to the incomes to determine the guideline amount of temporary maintenance. That amount is considered to be presumptively-correct unless it is determined that it would be unjust or inappropriate to award the guideline amount. A Temporary Maintenance Guideline Calculator is available online here. Spousal support attorneys, spousal maintenance attorneys or alimony attorneys must be familiar with the formula and the calculator. The formula is applied to all income of the payor up to an income cap of combined spousal income which is determined by statute. When the combined income is more than the income cap, the court must determine the guideline amount of temporary maintenance for both the portion of income up to and including the cap, and also that in excess of the income cap, by consideration of a number of factors, including: 

• Age and health of the parties
• Present or future earning capacities of the parties
• Need of one party to incur education or training expenses
• Termination of a child support award during the pendency of the temporary maintenance award
• Wasteful dissipation of martial property
• Transfer or encumbrance made in contemplation of a matrimonial action without fair consideration
• Existence and duration of a pre-marital joint household or a pre-divorce separate household
• Acts by one party against the other that have inhibited the other party’s earning capacity or ability to obtain meaningful employment, including acts of domestic violence
• Availability and cost of medical insurance for the parties
• Care of the children or stepchildren, disabled adult children or stepchildren, elderly parents or in-laws that has inhibited or continues to inhibit a party s earning capacity or ability to obtain meaningful employment
• Tax consequences to each party
• Standard of living established during the marriage
• Reduced or lost earning capacity of a party seeking temporary maintenance as a result of having forgone or delayed education, training, employment or career opportunities during the marriage.

The court may also consider any other factor which it finds to be just and proper under the circumstances in awarding spousal support in New York. 

Post-Divorce/Permanent Support

A spouse may also be required to pay a post-divorce award of maintenance for a fixed duration or permanent maintenance which terminates upon the death of either party, upon the recipient’s remarriage, or upon modification by a court. In determining the amount and duration of such an award, the court must consider: 

• Age and health of the parties
• Present and future earning capacity of the parties
• Need of one party to incur education or training expenses
• Termination of a child support award before the termination of the maintenance award
• Wasteful dissipation of marital property
• Transfers or encumbrances made in contemplation of a matrimonial action without fair consideration
• Existence and duration of a pre-marital joint household or pre-divorce separate household
• Acts by one party against the other that have inhibited or continue to inhibit a party s earning capacity or ability to obtain meaningful employment, including acts of domestic violence
• Availability and cost of medical insurance
• Care of children or step-children, disabled adult children or step-children, elderly parents or in-laws that has inhibited or continues to inhibit a party’s earning capacity
• Tax consequences to each party
• Standard of living established during the marriage
• Reduced or lost earning capacity of the payee as a result of having foregone or delayed education, training, employment or career opportunities.
• Equitable distribution of marital property
• Contributions and services of the party seeking maintenance as the spouse, parent, wage-earner and homemaker and to the career or career-potential of the other party

The court may also consider any other factor that it finds to be just and proper in making an award of spousal support in New York.