Am I Entitled to Maintenance (Spousal Support) in My Divorce?
Be aware when you are reading about this topic, that maintenance, spousal support and alimony, are all synonyms and the terms are used interchangeably. The IRS uses the term alimony. Maintenance is the support one spouse pays to the other, for the support of the other spouse, and is not to be confused with child support, which is the support the non-custodial parent pays to the custodial parent for the support of children.
New York State has devised a formula to calculate spousal support. The formula is not triggered unless there is a one third difference in your salaries. For example, if your spouse earns $100,00.00 per year and you earn $70,000.00 per year then no maintenance (spousal support) is generated. If your spouse earns $100,000.00 per year and you earn $66,000.00 or less per year, then spousal maintenance is payable (unless you agree otherwise with your spouse).
There is also a cap on spousal maintenance in New York. The cap is currently set at $228,000.00 per year of the payor’s salary, which means no maintenance is generated on income of more than this number although the Court does have the ability to set maintenance on income in excess of that amount based on a list of factors. The cap on payor income is adjusted every two years and it is scheduled to be adjusted again in March of this year.
Spousal support is no longer deductible on your Federal tax return which means it is paid tax free to the recipient and the payor pays the Federal taxes.