New York Divorce Report - New York's Divorce and Family Law Blog

The new temporary maintenance law became effective in New York on October 12, 2010.   The new law provides a fixed formula for awarding temporary maintenance (in New York alimony is termed “maintenance”).     The formula provides that temporary maintenance should be the lesser of: 1)  Thirty percent of the higher-earning spouse’s income, minus 20 percent of the lower-earning spouse’s income. 2) Forty percent of their combined income, minus the lower-earning spouse’s income. Until the enactment of this law, judges had discretion to set temporary awards based upon the actual needs of the parties.  Temporary maintenance was awarded to enable the economically... More

This is an historic week in divorce law in New York.  The recently enacted no fault divorce law becomes effective October 12, 2010.    In addition to no fault divorce, three other divorce laws become effective this week including: 1.   a new procedures for setting awards of temporary maintenance while a divorce is pending; 2.  a procedure for reviewing and modifying child support awards; and 3.    a law making it easier for the less monied spouses to receive an award of attorneys’ fees during the divorce.   Here are the highlights of the new laws: No Fault Divorce             The law creates a... More

A divorce could easily stretch out for a year or more. For this reason, it is not uncommon for a spouse, dependent on the other, to make a motion for temporary maintenance (alimony or spousal support in New York) to be paid during the divorce. Sometimes, for either strategic or economic reasons, no motion is made for temporary support. However, the failure to make the motion for pendente lite maintenance does not necessarily result in a windfall to the economically advantaged spouse. To the contrary, after trial, the advantaged spouse could be found to be arrears in maintenance and owe... More