Estimate monthly spousal support amount and duration based on your state's approach, marriage length, and both parties' incomes.
Alimony awards are highly discretionary in most states and depend heavily on how your attorney presents factors like standard of living, earning capacity, and contributions to the marriage. Whether you're the payor or recipient, experienced representation can mean thousands of dollars per year in difference. Many offer free initial consultations.
Find a Family Law Attorney →Alimony (also called spousal support or spousal maintenance) is financial support paid by the higher-earning spouse to the lower-earning spouse after divorce. Unlike child support, there is no universal formula — courts have broad discretion based on a long list of statutory factors.
The most common formula used as a starting point in practice is: monthly support ≈ 30–40% of the income gap between spouses. For example, if one spouse earns $10,000/month and the other earns $3,000, the gap is $7,000 — and a typical award might be $2,100–$2,800/month. This is a guideline, not a rule.
Duration is typically tied to marriage length. Short marriages (under 5 years) often result in temporary rehabilitative alimony lasting 1–3 years. Medium marriages (5–15 years) may result in 3–8 years of support. Long marriages (15+ years) can result in permanent alimony, especially if one spouse was a long-term homemaker or gave up career advancement for the family.
Tax treatment changed in 2019. For divorces finalized after December 31, 2018, alimony is no longer deductible by the payor or taxable income to the recipient — a major change from prior law. This effectively increased the after-tax cost to payors and decreased the value to recipients, which has influenced negotiation strategies.