Relates to interim spousal support and post-marital income obligations; repealer

Justification

Under existing law, awards of maintenance differ widely for couples with similar incomes and similar length of marriage. This lack of consistency and predictability in maintenance awards undermines confidence in the judicial system and encourages costly litigation by impeding the settling of cases. By establishing guidelines for the amount and duration of the award, post-marital income guidelines provide the consistency and predictability for spousal support that the Child Support Standards Act has provided for child support.

Most families do not have substantial assets to divide upon the dissolution of a marriage-the greatest asset of the marriage is frequently the income of the more-monied spouse. The less-monied spouse often invests time and energy supporting his or her spouse's career, raising the children, and taking care of the home. Current law fails to provide adequate guidance as to how to divide the asset of future earned income in an equitable manner.

Post-marital income guidelines only result in an award when there is an income gap between the two parties such that the less-monied spouse's income is less than two thirds of the more-monied spouse's income. For instance, if the payor's annual income is $90,000 a year, the guidelines will only result in an award if the payee's annual income is less than $60,000.

The guidelines provide protections for payors at both ends of the income spectrum. The formula is only applied to the payor's income up to $500,000. The guidelines also include a rebuttable presumption that individuals whose annual income is less than the self-support reserve (135% of the Federal poverty Guidelines) do not have the financial means to make a maintenance payment.

Guideline Duration: To determine the guideline amount, the court must compare 2 calculations of the spouses' annual incomes. For both of these

calculations, any income of the payor's that exceeds $500,000 is not included.

o 30% of the payor's income minus 20% of the payee's income, OR

o 40% of the combined income of the two spouses. The payee's income is then subtracted from this figure.

The court must select the lesser of these two figures as the guideline amount. If the payor has an annual income exceeding $500,000, the judge may adjust the amount.

Guideline Duration: To determine the guideline duration, the court applies a percentage to the length of the marriage. For every additional 3 - 5 years of the marriage, the duration of the award increases by 10%.

o If the marriage lasts 0 to 5 years, the length of award is 30% of the marriage. o If the marriage lasts 20 to 25 years, the length of award is 100% of the marriage. o If the marriage lasts more than 25 years, the length of award is permanent. Under current law, the court has discretion to award maintenance for life.

The guidelines maintain judicial discretion. If the court finds the presumptive award (the guideline amount or guideline duration) to be "unjust or improper," the court has discretion to apply the deviation factors listed and "any other factor" the court chooses to adjust the presumed award.

As with current law, the guidelines permit either party to apply to the court to annul or modify any prior maintenance awards upon a showing of a substantial change in circumstances, including financial hardship for the payor or payee.

New York needs a new approach consistent with Chief Judge Judith Kaye's call in her 2006 State of the Judiciary address for a "cultural revolution" to reduce the time and the costs, both financial and emotional, of matrimonial cases. More information regarding the probable amount and duration of post-marital income awards will encourage spouses to settle alleviating some of the burden on overworked courts and helping couples avoid any litigation.

Fiscal implication

None to the state.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have become a law and shall apply to matrimonial actions commenced on or after such effective date.