In New York, do you have to pay spousal maintenance to a spouse who is in jail, or is the duty to pay suspended during their incarceration?
In New York, do you have to pay spousal maintenance to a spouse who is in jail, or is the duty to pay suspended during their incarceration?
It is possible that a divorce judgment would provide for this scenario, so check the judgment, but odds are it does not have a provision that would suspend support for incarceration. Assuming that the order does not provide for the suspension of support (and I suspect that it does not), in order to stop paying spousal support you should file a motion with the divorce court asking that the payments be suspended until the other party is out of jail.
Depending upon the amounts at issue, and the amount of time your spouse will be in jail, you need to weigh the cost and time involved in bringing such a motion against the amount of money you might save if the order is granted.