As a family law attorney practicing in New York State, I can first tell you that there are no schedules for "spousal maintenance" (alimony) as there are here for child support.New York's Equitable Distribution statute requires that in a divorce situation, the spouse who is not yet able to be self-supporting is entitled to durational maintenance. The term, "durational," means that support for an ex-spouse is not permanent (unless that spouse is disabled or chronically mentally or physically ill) and will be paid for a limited number of years, depending upon the length of the marriage and the respective finances of the spouses involved. The support-receiving spouse is expected to become skilled within that period in some occupation which will give him or her the ability to become self-supporting.In other words, if one does not have the ability to be self-supporting at the time of the divorce and is not fully employed, support should be paid for a set number of years. Even if parties are physically separated for a number of years without a legal separation agreement, the other spouse remains legally responsible for the basic support of the other, regardless of where they live.However, without a legal separation or divorce agreement, such support is hard to come by voluntarily and certainly even harder to enforce. In actuality, any creditor can sue the other spouse for "necessaries" purchased by one spouse, which have not been paid for.
