THE WIFE’S TEMPORARY MAINTENANCE ARREARS SHOULD HAVE BEEN CALCULATED FROM THE DATE OF THE WIFE’S APPLICATION FOR MAINTENANCE, NOT THE PRIOR DATE WHEN SHE BECAME UNEMPLOYED (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, reversing (modifying) Supreme Court, determined the temporary maintenance awarded the wife should have commenced on the date of her application for temporary maintenance, not the prior date when she became unemployed:

We … agree with the husband that Supreme Court erred in ordering him to pay arrears retroactive to the wife’s date of unemployment, rather than the date of her application for temporary maintenance. The submissions demonstrated that the wife lost her job and the court made temporary maintenance retroactive to that date, November 26, 2019, yet the wife did not file her motion seeking temporary maintenance until April 2020. As applications for pendente lite relief are to be calculated from the date of the application …, the court’s calculation of arrears from the date of the wife’s unemployment was error. Carter v Fairchild-Carter, 2021 NY Slip Op 06594, Third Dept 11-24-21