On October 12, 2010, New York's Temporary Maintenance Law went into effect and can be found at N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § §236(B)(5-a) . The new law provides a fixed formula for awarding temporary maintenance (which for you non-New Yorkers is akin to ALIMONY). The basic premise of this new law is what I refer to as the "30%" rule. Basically, if there is an approximate 30% difference in the income (after allowable deductions) of the spouses, the less-monied spouse would be entitled to an award of temporary maintenance pursuant to the statute's formula. The New York State Unified Court System has a handy calculator that does all the work for you. Give it a try yourself ...> NY Maintenance Calculator. It's actually fun to use.
I recently attended a Matrimonial CLE where a number of matrimonial practitioners were disenchanted with the new law, citing the argument that their less-monied clients would, in fact, receive LESS by instituting the temporary maintenance guidelines statute. I have to say that I was rather perplexed by this position. It had been my experience that the judges in the counties where I practice did not routinely provide temporary maintenance unless there was clearly a spouse with little to no money. So, the enactment of this statute was supposed to help less-monied spouses get the immediate relief they need as opposed to being stranded in what could amount to an abusive or highly stressful situation with no hope of leaving because of economic depravity. I for one am happy that the statute was enacted and think that only time will tell how beneficial it will be.
1 comment:
The statute not only doesn'n distinguish between a two wek and twenty marriage, but it fails to take into accouont child support payments. The effect I have seen where there is a large disparity in oncokmes bwtween the spouses is a total shift in income. In the end, the less monied spouse, even if he or she is intentionally less monied by refusing to work ends up being by far the monied spouse. Once again, the spouse who works very hard to support a family is punished.
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