Majority
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Matthew F. Cooper, J.), entered June 30, 2014, which, after a trial, denied defendant husband any award for enhanced earning capacity and maintenance, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The court properly exercised its discretion in denying the husband any award of a portion of the wife’s enhanced earning capacity stemming from her United States medical license (see Holterman v Holterman, 3 NY3d 1 , 8 [2004]; Domestic Relations Law § 236 [B] [5] [c], [d]; see also Del Villar v Del Villar, 73 AD3d 651 [1st Dept 2010]). The husband failed to show that he contributed to the wife’s attainment of her license. Prior to the marriage, the wife completed medical school in China and had a medical license in China. Thus, the only marital property was her US medical license, and while the wife did not work from May 2004 to May 2007, as she studied for the exam, she supported herself with her own savings and financial support from her mother, and paid for the exam review course herself. Furthermore, even if the husband were entitled to an award based on the wife’s enhanced earning capacity, he never established the value of such enhanced earning capacity, through expert testimony (see e.g. Heydt-Benjamin v Heydt-Benjamin, 127 AD3d 814 , 815 [2d Dept 2015]).
The court providently exercised its discretion in denying the husband an award of maintenance after citing the relevant
The husband’s remaining contentions lack any support in the record. Concur — Gonzalez, P.J., Tom, Mazzarelli and Manzanet-Daniels, JJ.
Cases cited
- Holterman v. Holterman 3 NY3d 1 at 8 p. 541
- Del Villar v. Del Villar 73 AD3d 651 p. 541
- Heydt-Benjamin v. Heydt-Benjamin 127 AD3d 814 at 815 p. 541
- Alexander v. Alexander 116 AD3d 472 at 473 p. 542