Your Trusted New York Alimony Attorneys: Alimony is referred to as maintenance in New York. Alimony is money that is paid by one spouse to another spouse to help support them. If maintenance is awarded before a divorce is final, it is called temporary maintenance. In October of 2012, New York introduced a formula to calculate temporary maintenance. Temporary maintenance is paid by the higher earning spouse to the lower earning spouse while the divorce is pending. Once a final judgment of divorce is issued, temporary maintenance ends. Maintenance payments are separate from child support payments. If your spouse is not paying maintenance as they were required to do, you can take legal action to enforce the payments.