New York Spousal Support & Maintenance Guidelines: 2026 Guide

Spousal maintenance is a court-ordered payment from one spouse to the other, intended to limit the economic effects of divorce by providing the lower-earning spouse with income to meet their needs and, over time, become self-supporting. New York distinguishes between two types: temporary (pendente lite) maintenance, which is paid while the divorce proceeding is ongoing, and post-divorce maintenance, which is ordered as part of the final divorce judgment.

New York does not use the term “alimony.” If you see that word in older documents or discussions, it refers to what New York law now calls maintenance. The concepts are the same; only the label changed when the Legislature modernized the statutory framework in 2010 and again with significant revisions effective January 23, 2016.

New York’s 2016 maintenance amendments introduced a statutory formula for calculating both temporary and post-divorce maintenance. The formula applies to the payor spouse’s income up to the statutory income cap, which is adjusted annually and as of 2026 stands at $228,000 per year (verify the current cap with your attorney, as this figure is updated each year).

The formula calculates the lower of two amounts:

• Step 1: 30% of the payor’s pre-cap income, minus 20% of the payee’s income
• Step 2: 40% of the combined pre-cap incomes, minus the payee’s income

Whichever of those two figures is lower is the starting point for the annual maintenance obligation. However, the formula result is subject to an important cap: if the payee’s income plus the maintenance award would exceed 40% of the combined incomes, the award is reduced so that the combined total does not exceed that threshold.

For income the payor earns above the statutory cap, the court has discretion to apply the same percentages or a different amount, based on the statutory deviation factors discussed below.

The 2016 revisions also established advisory duration guidelines based on the length of the marriage. These guidelines are a starting point, not a mandatory floor or ceiling:

For a 10-year marriage, the guidelines suggest a maintenance duration of 1.5 to 3 years. For a 20-year marriage, they suggest 6 to 8 years, potentially longer. For marriages of 25 or more years, courts may award indefinite maintenance, particularly where the payee is at or near retirement age and has limited ability to become self-supporting.

Temporary maintenance is designed to preserve each party’s financial status while the divorce is pending. It is calculated using the same formula as post-divorce maintenance, but uses a slightly different threshold structure. Temporary maintenance ends automatically when the court issues the final divorce judgment and any post-divorce maintenance order takes effect.

In Erie County, temporary maintenance orders are usually obtained through an Order to Show Cause filed early in the divorce proceeding. The court may schedule a conference or decide the matter on papers. Because the pendente lite period can last 12 to 24 months in a contested case, the temporary maintenance amount has real financial significance and is worth fighting for or defending carefully.

Courts are not required to follow the formula result. DRL §236(B)(5-a)(e) provides a list of factors courts may consider to deviate from both the amount and duration guidelines. These include:

• The age and health of each party
• The present and future earning capacity of each party, taking into account absences from the workforce to care for children or the home
• The need of the lower-earning spouse to acquire education or training to become self-supporting
• The standard of living established during the marriage
• The existence of other income available to the payee (for example, investment income, inheritance, or pension)
• Wasteful dissipation of assets by either party during or before the divorce
• The transfer or encumbrance of marital property made without fair consideration
• The tax consequences of the proposed maintenance arrangement under current federal law
• The present value of non-marital property and the equitable distribution award being made in the same case
• Any other factor the court expressly finds to be just and proper

The 2017 federal tax law changes (the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) significantly affected maintenance planning: maintenance payments are no longer deductible by the payor or includible as income by the payee for divorces finalized after December 31, 2018. This change affects the real after-tax cost of maintenance for both parties and should be factored into any settlement negotiations.

When both maintenance and child support are at issue in the same case, the order of calculation matters. Under New York law, maintenance is calculated first, and then the child support formula is applied to the payor’s post-maintenance income. This means a payor facing both maintenance and child support obligations will have their child support calculated on a lower income base than they might otherwise expect.

The interaction between these two obligations makes the financial planning aspects of divorce particularly complex. Our support calculator can help you estimate both obligations, but a precise analysis requires an attorney to account for the specific facts of your case.

Post-divorce maintenance can be modified upon a showing of a substantial change in circumstances since the order was entered. Common grounds for modification include a significant increase or decrease in the payor’s income, the payee’s receipt of a substantial inheritance or windfall, or a serious health event affecting either party’s earning capacity.

Maintenance automatically terminates upon the payee’s remarriage (DRL §248). Cohabitation with a new partner does not automatically terminate maintenance, but it is a factor courts can consider in a modification proceeding if the cohabitation materially reduces the payee’s financial need. The burden is on the payor to bring the modification petition and prove the substantial change in circumstances.

If the parties’ settlement agreement designates maintenance as “non-modifiable,” both the amount and duration are fixed regardless of future changed circumstances (with limited exceptions for extreme hardship). Non-modifiable maintenance provisions require particularly careful negotiation.

In an uncontested divorce, the parties negotiate maintenance as part of their overall settlement and memorialize the agreed terms in a Separation Agreement that is incorporated into the divorce judgment. Parties have considerable flexibility to deviate from the statutory formula by mutual agreement — agreeing to a higher or lower amount, a different duration, or a lump-sum payment in lieu of periodic support. Settlement gives both parties control over the outcome that contested litigation does not.

In a contested divorce, the court applies the statutory formula as a starting point and then considers deviation factors at a hearing. Contested maintenance proceedings involve financial disclosure, expert testimony in some cases, and ultimately judicial discretion. The uncertainty of litigation is one of many reasons attorneys encourage settlement of maintenance disputes when possible.