Mediators and the Courts rely on multiple factors when determining Spousal Maintenance after a divorce.  According to
Domestic Relations Law Section DRL §236(B)(6)(e), those factors include:

(1) the age and health of the parties;

(2) the present or future earning capacity of the parties, including a history of limited participation in the workforce;

(3) the need of one party to incur education or training expenses;

(4) the termination of a child support award before the termination of the maintenance award when the calculation of maintenance was based upon child support being awarded which resulted in a maintenance award lower than it would have been had child support not been awarded;

(5) the wasteful dissipation of marital property, including transfers or encumbrances made in contemplation of a matrimonial action without fair consideration;

(6) the existence and duration of a pre-marital joint household or a pre-divorce separate household;

(7) acts by one party against another that have inhibited or continue to inhibit a party’s earning capacity or ability to obtain meaningful employment. Such acts include but are not limited to acts of domestic violence as provided in section four hundred fifty-nine-a of the social services law;

(8) the availability and cost of medical insurance for the parties;

(9) the care of children or stepchildren, disabled adult children or stepchildren, elderly parents or in-laws provided during the marriage that inhibits a party’s earning capacity;

(10) the tax consequences to each party;

(11) the standard of living of the parties established during the marriage;

(12) the reduced or lost earning capacity of the payee as a result of having forgone or delayed education, training, employment or career opportunities during the marriage;

(13) the equitable distribution of marital property and the income or imputed income on the assets so distributed;

(14) the contributions and services of the payee as a spouse, parent, wage earner and homemaker and to the career or career potential of the other party; and

(15) any other factor which the court shall expressly find to be just and proper.