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Alimony exists to address an earnings gap created by the marriage. Where one spouse stepped back from work to raise children or to support the other’s career, they emerge with lower earning capacity than they would otherwise have had. Support is meant to recognise that, not to punish anyone.
Fault is irrelevant to alimony in most states. In a minority, marital misconduct can be a factor.
The lists vary by state but overlap heavily:
A growing number of states apply a guideline formula, at least as a starting point. These typically take a percentage of the difference between the spouses’ incomes, and set duration as a fraction of the length of the marriage.
Even where a guideline exists it is often advisory rather than binding, and judges can depart from it. But it anchors negotiation, which makes outcomes in those states considerably more predictable.
Paid while the divorce is pending, to keep both households running. It ends when the divorce is final and says little about what comes next.
The most common form. Paid for a defined period while the recipient retrains or re-establishes a career. Often tied to a specific plan with an end date.
Paid for a set number of years, frequently calculated as a proportion of the length of the marriage.
Increasingly rare and now abolished or restricted in several states. Where it survives, it is generally reserved for long marriages — often twenty years or more — where a spouse is older or in poor health and realistically cannot become self-supporting.
A single payment, or a larger share of property, instead of ongoing support. It ends the financial relationship cleanly, which both sides often value. It is usually not modifiable and usually does not end on remarriage, so it carries different risks in both directions.
This catches people who are working from older advice. For divorces finalised after 31 December 2018, alimony is no longer deductible by the payer and no longer taxable income to the recipient. Federal tax treatment is now the same as a transfer between individuals.
The practical effect is that a given payment costs the payer more than it would have before, which has pushed negotiated amounts down in many cases. Agreements finalised before 2019 generally keep the old treatment unless they are modified and the parties opt in to the new rules. Some states still allow a deduction on the state return even though the federal one is gone.
If a court decides a spouse is deliberately earning less than they could — quitting a job before filing, turning down work, staying under-employed without reason — it can impute income, calculating support on what they are capable of earning rather than what they actually earn.
This applies to both sides. A payer who reduces their income to lower a payment, and a recipient who declines suitable work to extend one, are treated the same way.
Unless an agreement says otherwise, alimony usually ends on:
Modification is generally possible on a substantial change in circumstances — a significant involuntary change in income, a serious illness, retirement at a normal age. A voluntary reduction in income rarely qualifies.
Lump sum awards and support set by an agreement containing a non-modification clause are usually fixed. That clause is worth reading carefully, because it binds both of you.
Work out what you actually need from real numbers before discussing a figure. Build a monthly budget from statements rather than estimates, and model what tax, health insurance and housing will cost in a single household — the three that people get most wrong. A support figure agreed without that work is a guess, and if it turns out to be too low it is not always possible to revisit.
Warning: This post is neither financial, health, legal, or personal advice nor a substitute for the advice offered by a professional. These are serious matters, and the help of a professional is recommended as it can impact your future.