Questão jurídica principal
Whether the appellate court could set the start of post-divorce maintenance at the date of partial/finality of the divorce judgment.
Decisão extraída
Yes. Under Art. 126 CC, the court has broad discretion to determine the beginning of the maintenance duty and may set it from the time the divorce judgment becomes partially or finally effective.
Fundamentação extraída
The statute gives the divorce court wide latitude to tailor maintenance to the case. The ordinary rule is commencement upon formal finality, but the court may deviate and even order maintenance retroactively to partial finality. Pending protective-measure proceedings do not limit that power.