22 NYCRR 202.16: Matrimonial Actions, Orders, and Disclosures

22 NYCRR 202.16 is the Uniform Rule that governs contested divorce, separation, and annulment cases in New York Supreme Court. It locks both spouses into a financial freeze the moment the summons is served, requires each side to produce a sworn Statement of Net Worth and supporting tax documents, sets a 45-day clock for the preliminary conference, and controls how temporary support motions are made and decided. If you have been served with matrimonial papers in New York, this rule already applies to you.

Which Cases the Rule Covers

The rule reaches every contested Supreme Court action where a sworn net worth statement is required under Section 236 of the Domestic Relations Law and the court may need to decide maintenance, child support, equitable distribution, custody, or counsel fees.¹ That covers divorce, separation, annulment, declarations of nullity, and post-foreign-judgment proceedings to distribute marital property.² If your case involves dividing assets or setting support, 202.16 applies.

Automatic Orders the Moment You Are Served

You do not have to wait for a judge to rule on anything. The automatic orders take effect against both spouses as soon as the matrimonial summons is served, and violating them can be treated as contempt of court.³ They stay in place until a final judgment is entered, the case is dismissed, or the court modifies them.

The restrictions are:

No selling, transferring, concealing, or encumbering any property — real estate, bank accounts, investments, vehicles — except for ordinary household expenses, regular business operations, or reasonable attorney fees.
No withdrawing from, transferring, or taking distributions from IRAs, 401(k)s, pensions, or similar retirement accounts. A spouse already receiving retirement payments may continue them.
No running up unreasonable debt, including borrowing against a home equity line or overusing credit cards beyond normal household or business spending.
No removing the other spouse or the children from existing health, dental, or medical insurance. Both parties must keep those policies active.
No changing beneficiary designations on life insurance, auto insurance, homeowner’s insurance, or renter’s insurance.
If you learn of a tax lien, foreclosure, bankruptcy filing, or litigation that could affect the marital estate, you must notify the other party in writing within ten days.

The practical effect is that both spouses are locked into preserving the financial status quo before anyone sets foot in a courtroom.

Financial Disclosures You Must Prepare

Both parties have to prepare and exchange a sworn Statement of Net Worth on the official form in Appendix A of the Uniform Civil Rules. It requires a full accounting of assets, liabilities, and monthly living expenses, and must be signed under oath before a notary.¹

Along with the statement, each party must provide:

All paycheck stubs for the current calendar year, plus the last stub from the prior year.
All filed federal and state income tax returns for the previous three years, including returns for any partnership or closely held corporation in which the party is a partner or shareholder.
All W-2s, 1099s, and K-1s for any year in the past three years where the party did not file tax returns.

These documents must be exchanged no later than ten days before the preliminary conference unless the court sets a different deadline. The net worth statements must also be filed with the court by that same ten-day mark.¹

The Retainer Agreement Gets Filed Too

When an attorney files the net worth statement with the court, a signed copy of the retainer agreement must be filed with it. The court reviews the agreement for compliance with Appellate Division attorney conduct rules. If you change attorneys after the net worth statement has already been filed, the new attorney’s retainer must be filed within ten days of execution.¹

Getting to the Preliminary Conference

To get a judge assigned, one party files a Request for Judicial Intervention (Form UCS-840), which carries a $95 filing fee.⁴ If children under 18 are involved, a Matrimonial RJI Addendum (UCS-840M) must be attached. Once the case is assigned, the court must schedule a preliminary conference within 45 days.¹

At that conference the judge or court attorney identifies which issues are actually in dispute, sets deadlines for depositions and property appraisals, and schedules the compliance conferences that follow. A written scheduling order usually comes out of the session, and the deadlines in it are enforceable.

Compliance Conferences and Expert Deadlines

After the preliminary conference, the court schedules compliance conferences to confirm that both sides are keeping up with discovery. A compliance conference can be skipped only if both parties file a written stipulation confirming they have met all outstanding obligations. When one is held, both parties must appear in person unless excused, the judge addresses them directly at some point, and attorneys are expected to confer in good faith beforehand to resolve open issues.¹

If you plan to call an expert at trial — an appraiser, forensic accountant, vocational evaluator, or business valuator — the deadlines are firm. Responses to demands for expert information are due within 20 days. Expert reports must be exchanged and filed with the court no later than 60 days before trial, and reply reports are due 30 days before. Miss these dates without good cause and the court can bar the expert from testifying.¹

Temporary Support, Child Support, and Attorney Fees

Divorce cases can run for months or years, and one spouse often needs money in the meantime. Subdivision (k) of 202.16 governs motions for pendente lite maintenance, child support, and counsel fees. If practicable, the motion should be made before or at the preliminary conference.¹

A pendente lite motion will not be heard unless the moving papers include a net worth statement on the official form. For motions seeking attorney fees, the moving attorney must also submit an affidavit disclosing all fees received, the hourly rate, amounts paid or promised, and the costs of any experts, including appraisers, accountants, actuaries, and investigators.¹

The opposing party has a strong incentive to answer with their own sworn financial disclosure: any facts in the moving party’s statement that are not challenged in a sworn response are deemed admitted for purposes of that motion. The admission is limited to that motion, not the case as a whole, but it gives the judge a basis to decide even when the other side stays silent.

What Happens If You Don’t Comply

The rule gives the court several enforcement tools, and the specific consequence depends on what was violated.

A document you failed to produce in discovery generally cannot be used at trial if the request was not objected to or the objection was overruled. The court can impose additional penalties beyond preclusion when circumstances warrant.¹
On a pendente lite motion, failure to comply with subdivision (k) lets the judge draw an inference in favor of the other side on any disputed fact affected by the noncompliance, or deny the motion outright, without prejudice to refiling once the deficiency is cured.
An expert report not filed in conformance with the 60-day and 30-day deadlines can result in the expert being barred from testifying.
At compliance conferences the court warns parties about the full range of consequences: default, preclusion, denial of discovery, inferences, deeming issues admitted, sanctions, and attorney fee awards.¹

Courts also have discretion to craft remedies other than preclusion when a tailored response fits better — for example, when a party has a continuing obligation to update tax returns and W-2s as they are issued. Hiding assets or missing disclosure deadlines rarely helps the party who does it.

1
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 22 NYCRR 202.16 – Matrimonial Actions
2
New York State Senate. New York Domestic Relations Law 236
3
New York Courts. Section 202.16-a Matrimonial Actions – Automatic Orders
4
New York Courts. What Are the Fees for an Index Number, RJI