| Malik v Malik |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 07802 [66 AD3d 968] |
| October 27, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| Zeenat Malik, Respondent, v Zaheer Malik,Appellant. |
—[*1]
In an action for a divorce and ancillary relief, the defendant appeals, as limited by his brief,from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Fitzmaurice, J.), datedSeptember 23, 2008, as granted those branches of the plaintiff's motion which were for an awardof pendente lite child support and maintenance, and to direct him to temporarily pay thechildren's medical and dental expenses.
Ordered that the order is affirmed insofar as appealed from, with costs.
"Modifications of pendente lite awards should rarely be made by an appellate court and thenonly under exigent circumstances, such as where a party is unable to meet his or her financialobligations, or justice otherwise requires" (Levakis v Levakis, 7 AD3d 678, 678 [2004]; see Silver v Silver, 46 AD3d 667,668 [2007]). Pendente lite awards "should be an accommodation between the reasonable needsof the moving spouse and the financial ability of the other spouse . . . with dueregard for the preseparation standard of living" (Levakis v Levakis, 7 AD3d at 678[internal quotation marks omitted]; see Silver v Silver, 46 AD3d at 668; Byer v Byer,199 AD2d 298 [1993]). "A speedy trial is ordinarily the proper remedy to rectify a perceivedinequity in a pendente lite award" (Levakis v Levakis, 7 AD3d at 678).
The Supreme Court providently exercised its discretion in awarding the plaintiff the sum of$1,500 per month in temporary child support and $250 per week in temporary maintenance, andin directing the defendant to temporarily pay the medical and dental expenses of the children(id. at 679). The defendant has failed to establish the existence of exigent circumstancessufficient to warrant a modification of the pendente lite awards (see McGarrity v McGarrity, 49 AD3d824 [2008]).
The defendant's remaining contentions are without merit. Dillon, J.P., Dickerson, Lott andAustin, JJ., concur.