Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Why would you want to sue in NY if neither of you is there? One reason for jurisdictional rules that prohibit suits from being started in states/locales where neither party lives is that it doesn't make sense for the parties to travel to a far away place, to have a judge who is not within their community, impose a judgment upon them. Perhaps more importantly, I do not see what basis you would have to sue an ex-husband for maintenance. The time to seek maintenance was during the course of the divorce.