The court may award temporary child support and maintenance even before the parties are divorced.  The court may later modify the levels of support, based on proof presented in the course of litigation.  This is the case regardless of who files for divorce, or against whom fault is alleged in the course of the divorce.

While the case is pending in court, temporary maintenance is now available under a statutory formula (for cases commenced after October 2010.)  The formula provides that if one spouse earns less than 2/3 the income of the other spouse, temporary maintenance is payable to the lower earning spouse, and is calculated as follows: 

LESSER of - (a) 30% of the payer's income minus 20% of the payee's income, and (b) 40% of the combined income of both spouses, minus the payee spouse's income.  There is some discretion to deviate from the formula, and payer income is capped at $500K for the purposes of this calculation.  However, this may be used as the starting point for estimating interim maintenance that would be available while a divorce case is pending.