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Temporary Maintenance Calculation Under the New Law
One of the other major changes in the newly enacted law is the methodology for determining temporary spousal maintenance payments while a divorce case is pending. Under prior law, the spousal maintenance award was in the discretion of the court, which led to inconsistent and sometimes inadequate support orders. Now a statutory formula has been enacted that is applicable for families earning less than $500,000. A different guideline has been written for families earning more than $500,000.
If the non-monied spouse’s income is less than two-thirds of the monied spouse’s income, two calculations are performed in order to determine the support amount. If the non-monied spouse’s income is not less than two-thirds of the monied spouse income, then no temporary maintenance is awarded.
In this example, the non-monied spouse earns $40,000.00 per annum, and the monied spouse earns $125,000.00 per annum. Since 2/3 of $125,000.00 is approximately $83,333.33, and $40,000.00 is less than that, the non-monied spouse is entitled to temporary maintenance.
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CALCULATION 1 |
CALCULATION 2 |
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30% of monied |
$37,500.00 |
40% of parties’ combined income |
$66,000.00 |
|
minus 20% of non- |
-$8,000.00 |
minus non-monied spouse’s income |
-$40,000.00 |
|
Annual Support Due |
$29,500.00 |
Annual Support Due |
$26,000.00 |
|
Monthly Support Due |
$2,458.33 |
Monthly Support Due |
$2,166.67 |
The lower figure is then selected as the temporary maintenance due to the non-monied spouse. So in this example, the non-monied spouse would receive support based upon Calculation 2.
Temporary maintenance is tax deductible to the payor and tax includable to the payee if ordered by the Court, or stipulated to by the parties.
Some Judges Have Deviated from Applying the Maintenance Formula in Early Cases Decided Under the New Law
