What maintenance is
Maintenance is New York’s word for alimony: payments from the spouse with the higher income to the spouse with the lower income. Temporary maintenance is paid while the divorce is pending (Domestic Relations Law § 236(B)(5-a)). Post-divorce maintenance is paid after the judgment (§ 236(B)(6)). Both use the same formula for the amount. Spouses can agree to different terms in a written agreement.
What income counts
Maintenance uses the same income definition as child support: gross income from the tax return and other listed sources, minus Social Security and Medicare taxes and New York City or Yonkers income tax. The payor is the spouse with the higher income; the payee has the lower income. The court’s worksheets walk through each line (uncontested divorce forms, UD-8(1) and UD-8(2)).
The two formulas
When the payor also pays child support to the payee:
- 20% of the payor’s income, minus 25% of the payee’s income = Result 1.
- 40% of the two incomes combined, minus the payee’s income = Result 2.
- The guideline amount is the lower of the two results, or zero if it is negative.
When there are no children, or the payor has custody:
- 30% of the payor’s income, minus 20% of the payee’s income = Result 1.
- 40% of the two incomes combined, minus the payee’s income = Result 2.
- The guideline amount is the lower of the two results, or zero if it is negative.
These steps match the court’s Notice of Guideline Maintenance, which is served with every divorce summons.
Low incomes. If paying the guideline amount would leave the payor below the self-support reserve ($21,546 from March 1, 2026), maintenance is reduced to the payor’s income minus the reserve. If the payor’s income is already below the reserve, the presumption is that no maintenance is owed.
The income cap
The formula uses the payor’s income only up to a cap. The cap is adjusted every two years on March 1, and the Notice of Guideline Maintenance states the current figure. On income above the cap, any extra maintenance is up to the court, which must consider the statutory factors and give its reasons in writing.
How long post-divorce maintenance lasts
An advisory schedule sets duration as a share of the length of the marriage, from the wedding to the date the divorce was filed. The court may set a different duration after considering the statutory factors.
| Length of marriage | Duration (share of the marriage’s length) |
|---|---|
| Up to and including 15 years | 15% to 30% |
| More than 15, up to and including 20 years | 30% to 40% |
| More than 20 years | 35% to 50% |
What can change the amount or duration
The court considers the factors in Domestic Relations Law § 236(B)(6), including:
- each spouse’s age, health, earning capacity and work history
- the need for education or training, and when child support will end
- career opportunities given up during the marriage, and caring for children or relatives
- acts that limited the other spouse’s earning capacity, including domestic violence
- wasteful dissipation of marital property, and how property is divided
- health insurance, tax consequences and the standard of living during the marriage
Worked example
The payor’s income is $120,000 and the payee’s is $40,000 a year, after the allowed deductions, well below the cap. The marriage lasted 18 years.
| Step | No child support | Payor also pays child support |
|---|---|---|
| Share of payor’s income | 30% = $36,000 | 20% = $24,000 |
| Share of payee’s income | 20% = $8,000 | 25% = $10,000 |
| Result 1 | $28,000 | $14,000 |
| Result 2: 40% of $160,000 minus $40,000 | $24,000 | $24,000 |
| Guideline amount (the lower result) | $24,000 a year (about $2,000 a month) | $14,000 a year (about $1,167 a month) |
For an 18-year marriage, the advisory schedule points to 30% to 40% of 18 years: about 5.4 to 7.2 years. The court can depart from both the amount and the duration.
Maintenance comes before child support
When both are ordered, maintenance is calculated first. It is added to the payee’s income and subtracted from the payor’s income before child support is figured. LawCat’s New York child support calculator does not yet include maintenance; when maintenance is paid between the parents, use the court’s worksheet.
How maintenance is taxed
For federal income tax, maintenance under an agreement or judgment made after 2018 is not deductible by the payor and not income to the recipient (IRS Topic 452). New York State did not adopt that change: under the Form IT-225 instructions, the payor subtracts qualifying maintenance paid and the recipient adds it to New York income.
When maintenance ends or changes
| Event | Effect |
|---|---|
| Death of either spouse | Post-divorce maintenance ends |
| The recipient remarries | Maintenance ends; the court must end the obligation when the payor asks |
| The recipient lives with someone and presents themselves as that person’s spouse | The court may end or change maintenance (DRL § 248) |
| A substantial change in circumstances, such as actual retirement with a large drop in income | Either spouse may ask the court to change it |
Work it out on the official forms. The New York courts publish a maintenance and child support calculator and the worksheets used in uncontested divorces.
NY Courts maintenance and child support tools →New York child support calculator · New York divorce guide · Uncontested divorce forms
Official sources
- Domestic Relations Law § 236(B)(5-a) and (6)
- Domestic Relations Law § 248 (remarriage and cohabitation)
- NY Courts, Notice of Guideline Maintenance
- NY Courts, uncontested divorce forms (UD-8 worksheets)
- IRS Topic 452, Alimony and separate maintenance
- NY Form IT-225 instructions
Questions people ask
How is alimony calculated in New York?
New York calls alimony maintenance and uses a formula in Domestic Relations Law § 236(B). Without child support, take 30% of the payor’s income minus 20% of the payee’s income, then compare it with 40% of combined income minus the payee’s income; the lower figure is the guideline amount. When the payor also pays child support, the first percentages are 20% and 25%. The formula stops at an income cap.
How long does maintenance last in New York?
For post-divorce maintenance, an advisory schedule sets duration at 15% to 30% of the marriage’s length for marriages up to 15 years, 30% to 40% for over 15 up to 20 years, and 35% to 50% for over 20 years. The court may set a different duration after considering the statutory factors.
Is maintenance taxable in New York?
For federal tax, maintenance under an agreement or judgment made after 2018 is not deductible by the payor or taxable to the recipient. For New York State income tax, the payor subtracts it and the recipient adds it, under the Form IT-225 instructions.
Does maintenance end if my ex moves in with someone?
It can. Under Domestic Relations Law § 248, the court may end or reduce maintenance if the recipient habitually lives with another person and presents themselves as that person’s spouse. Remarriage, by contrast, ends maintenance.
Page updated October 14, 2026. Figures change; confirm them with the official sources above.