When one spouse is financially dependent on the other, courts will often award alimony upon divorce. Each case is different, and depending on the circumstances, a judge may award alimony (also referred to as spousal support or maintenance) to a spouse temporarily, for a set amount of time, for life, or not at all. Additionally, the rules governing spousal support are different from state to state, and some jurisdictions may have a minimum amount of time you must be married to be eligible to receive alimony, while others don’t.
This article will lay out basic alimony rules across the country, but if you have specific questions, you should contact a local family law attorney for advice.
Once divorce in the United States became possible, you could only divorce the other spouse based on misconduct. If it was the husband’s misconduct that ended the marriage, he’d still have to pay alimony, because otherwise, you’d be letting a man escape financial obligations when it’s his fault that the marriage is ending. Wives on the other hand could forfeit their right to support if they committed the misconduct. If a wife cheated on her husband, she wasn’t eligible to receive alimony (a law still on the books in some states).
When courts began allowing no-fault divorces during the second half of the 20th century, some states still made alimony conditional on which spouse was at fault. Currently, there is a split across the United States: marital fault is a factor in awarding alimony approximately half the states and DC.
Permanent alimony refers to spousal support that is awarded either for life or until retirement age. Some states have laws that a spouse can’t be ordered to pay alimony past the presumed retirement age of 65. Some states put a limit on the duration of “permanent” alimony, prohibiting alimony awards lasting longer than 10 years. Permanent alimony, in all forms, is becoming increasingly rare across the country.
Rehabilitative alimony is taking the place of permanent alimony. Rehabilitative alimony is intended not to pay a dependent spouse’s living expenses for life, but rather to bridge the gap between the date of separation or divorce and the time the dependent spouse becomes financially independent. Unless proven otherwise, courts presume that a healthy, financially-dependent spouse can return to the workforce or otherwise find ways to no longer be dependent on the higher-earning spouse. Rehabilitative alimony should cover the period during which the spouse receiving alimony gets training, education, or sufficient work experience to become self supporting.
In order to be financially dependent on a spouse, courts assume you must have been married long enough to forego educational or work opportunities. Very short marriages, of a few years or less, are unlikely to result in an prolonged alimony award. However, most states don’t have a minimum period of time for a spouse to be eligible to receive alimony.
Some states do have a minimum length of marriage before a spouse is eligible to receive alimony. For example, in Maine, Mississippi, and Tennessee, judges will only award alimony in marriages lasting longer than 10 years. In these states, alimony payments can’t last longer than half the length of the marriage unless there are extenuating circumstances, like a physical or mental disability. In Texas, a marriage must last at least 10 years before a court will award alimony, and payments can only last three years absent extenuating circumstances.
Trying to figure out how much alimony you may be eligible to receive and the duration of that alimony can be challenging. Most states don’t provide clear guidelines on how courts should calculate alimony, so alimony awards can vary drastically from county to county and even from judge to judge. An experienced family law attorney may have insight on your judges’ tendencies when it comes to awarding alimony, so if you are attempting to negotiate alimony with your spouse, it’s best for you both to have lawyers.
Many states, such as Maryland, are moving towards using formulas for calculating alimony, providing judges with tools to bring predictability to alimony awards.
Most other states simply give judges a list of factors that courts must consider when determining alimony, including considerations like the following:
Depending on your jurisdiction, there may be even more factors than listed above—judges can essentially consider anything that would be relevant to making sure the spouses can meet their financial needs post-marriage. The amount of time you’ve been married can also impact the length of the alimony award. Some judges may award alimony for one-quarter to one-third the length of the marriage, while in other areas, judges may award alimony for one-half the length of the marriage or more.
Figuring out the right amount and duration of alimony is difficult, and best done with the assistance of an experienced family law attorney.
