As of Jan. 25, 2016, divorcing parties may rely on new provisions in the Domestic Relations Law pertaining to post-divorce spousal support.1 For years, attorneys and judges have grappled with creating a standard of fairness upon which parties may rely that provides sufficient flexibility so that cases may be tailored to each family’s unique budgetary needs.
Until now, professionals have been guided by the list of factors2 to be considered when awarding support, as well as a “rule of thumb” with regard to duration of such support—roughly one year of support for every two to three years of marriage. When clients would inevitably ask their lawyers, “how much maintenance should I anticipate paying/receiving?” practitioners could not say, with any measure of certainty, the extent to which a judge might weigh or value one factor more than another.
