Maintenance Alimony

In New York, alimony is called maintenance. Maintenance can be awarded for an indefinitely or for a lifetime or a specific period of time. In considering an award of maintenance, the Court must consider the standard of living of the parties that was established during marriage, the circumstances of the case and of the parties, whether the party who is getting the award lacks sufficient property and income to provide for his/her reasonable needs and whether the party paying the maintenance has sufficient property and income to provide for the other’s reasonable needs.

Maintenance may be deductible to the party paying maintenance and taxable to the recipient.
The following statutory factors are considered by the court in calculating the duration and amount of maintenance:

a) the income and property of the respective parties including marital property distributed;
b) the duration of the marriage and the age and health of both parties;
c) the present and future earning capacity of both parties;
d) the present and future earning capacity of both parties;
e) the ability of the party seeking maintenance to become self supporting and, if applicable,
the period of time and training necessary therefore;
f) the presence of children of the marriage in the respective homes of the parties;
g) the tax consequences to each party;
h) contributions and services of the party seeking maintenance as a spouse, parent,
wage earner and homemaker, and to the career or career potential of the other party;
i) the wasteful dissipation of marital property by either spouse;
j) any transfer or encumbrance made in contemplation of a matrimonial action without
fair consideration; and
k) any other factor which the Court shall expressly find to be just and proper.