Alimony (spousal support) in Texas is designed to help a lower-earning spouse maintain a reasonable standard of living after divorce. This comprehensive guide covers the types of alimony available in Texas, how courts calculate amounts, duration guidelines, modification rules, and the impact of remarriage, cohabitation, and retirement on support obligations. Understanding Texas’s alimony laws helps both paying and receiving spouses plan their financial futures.
Verified against Texas family law statutes as of May 2026.
In This Texas Alimony Guide:
Types of Alimony in Texas
Texas courts may award the following types of alimony:
- Temporary spousal support (pendente lite
- during divorce proceedings only); Court-ordered spousal maintenance (post-divorce
- rehabilitative in nature
- governed by Texas Family Code Chapter 8); Contractual alimony (negotiated by the parties in a settlement agreement
- governed by contract law with no statutory caps). Texas does not use separate categories like bridge-the-gap or reimbursement alimony. Court-ordered maintenance is explicitly rehabilitative and time-limited
- with indefinite maintenance available only in narrow disability/incapacity cases.
How Texas Calculates Alimony
Texas uses a guideline formula for calculating alimony: Texas Family Code § 8.055 caps court-ordered maintenance at the lesser of 5000 per month or 20% of the paying spouse’s average monthly gross income. Duration is capped by statutory tiers under § 8.054 based on marriage length. Contractual alimony (agreed by the parties) has no statutory cap on amount or duration.
Texas courts consider these factors when determining alimony:
- Per Texas Family Code § 8.052
- courts consider all relevant factors including: (1) each spouse’s ability to provide for minimum reasonable needs independently considering financial resources on dissolution; (2) education and employment skills of the spouses
- time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training
- and availability and feasibility of that education or training; (3) duration of the marriage; (4) age
- employment history
- earning ability
- and physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking maintenance; (5) effect on each spouse’s ability to provide for minimum reasonable needs while providing child support or maintenance; (6) acts by either spouse resulting in excessive or abnormal expenditures or destruction
- concealment
- or fraudulent disposition of community property
- joint tenancy
- or other property held in common; (7) contribution by one spouse to the education
- training
- or increased earning power of the other spouse; (8) property brought to the marriage by either spouse; (9) contribution of a spouse as homemaker; (10) marital misconduct
- including adultery and cruel treatment
- by either spouse during the marriage; (11) any history or pattern of family violence as defined by Section 71.004.
Income disparity: YES. Under Texas Family Code § 8.051, the spouse seeking maintenance must demonstrate as a threshold requirement that they will lack sufficient property, including separate property, on dissolution of the marriage to provide for their minimum reasonable needs. This financial need showing is mandatory before any qualifying condition is evaluated. The standard is minimum reasonable needs, not maintenance of marital lifestyle.
Vocational evaluation: Yes. Texas courts may order or consider vocational evaluations to assess a spouse’s earning capacity, employability, and the time needed to acquire sufficient education or training. Courts can impute income based on vocational expert findings. The statute (§ 8.052(2)) requires consideration of education, employment skills, and time necessary for training. The requesting spouse bears the burden of showing diligent efforts toward employment or skill development.
Texas Alimony Duration Guidelines
Yes. Texas Family Code § 8.054 sets maximum durations tied to marriage length: family violence cases (marriage under 10 years) up to 5 years; marriage of 10 to 20 years up to 5 years; marriage of 20 to 30 years up to 7 years; marriage of 30 or more years up to 10 years. Disability or incapacitating condition may allow indefinite maintenance. Court must limit duration to the shortest reasonable period allowing the spouse to become self-sufficient.
| Marriage Length | Typical Alimony Duration |
|---|---|
| Short-term (under Under 10 years. Marriages under 10 years generally do not qualify for court-ordered spousal maintenance unless the paying spouse was convicted of or received deferred adjudication for domestic violence within two years of filing, or the requesting spouse has an incapacitating disability, or the requesting spouse is custodian of a child requiring substantial care due to disability.) | Rehabilitative or bridge-the-gap; limited duration |
| Moderate-term | Durational alimony; set period based on marriage length |
| Long-term (30 years. Marriages of 30 or more years qualify for the longest statutory maintenance duration of up to 10 years.+) | May qualify for permanent or indefinite alimony |
Permanent alimony: YES, but extremely limited. Indefinite maintenance is available only when the spouse seeking maintenance has an incapacitating physical or mental disability (§ 8.051(2)(A)), is custodian of a child of the marriage of any age who requires substantial care and personal supervision due to a physical or mental disability (§ 8.051(2)(C)), or faces another compelling impediment to earning sufficient income. The court may order maintenance for as long as the spouse continues to satisfy the applicable eligibility criteria. Truly permanent/lifetime maintenance is rare in Texas.
Modifying & Terminating Texas Alimony
Modification: YES. Under Texas Family Code § 8.057, either party may petition the court to modify the amount or duration of spousal maintenance if there has been a material and substantial change in circumstances. However, the court may NOT increase the amount of maintenance or extend the duration beyond the original order’s limits. The paying spouse must continue making payments at the original amount until the court approves a modification.
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Cohabitation: Yes. Under Texas Family Code § 8.056(b), the court shall terminate the maintenance obligation after a hearing if it finds the receiving spouse cohabits with another person with whom the receiving spouse has a dating or romantic relationship in a permanent place of abode on a continuing basis. Unlike remarriage, cohabitation termination is not automatic and requires a court hearing initiated by the paying spouse.
Remarriage: Yes. Under Texas Family Code § 8.056(a), the obligation to pay future maintenance terminates automatically upon the remarriage of the receiving spouse. No court hearing is required. The obligation also terminates on the death of either party. Accrued but unpaid maintenance prior to the termination event remains enforceable.
Retirement: Retirement by the paying spouse can constitute a material and substantial change in circumstances under § 8.057, potentially justifying a court-ordered reduction of the maintenance obligation. The payor must file a petition with the court; payments continue at the current amount until the court approves a modification. The court will evaluate whether the retirement was in good faith and the resulting change in income.
Tax Implications of Texas Alimony
Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017), for divorce agreements executed after December 31, 2018, alimony payments are not deductible by the paying spouse and not taxable income for the receiving spouse at the federal level. This applies to all Texas divorces finalized after that date.
For divorces finalized before 2019, the old rules still apply unless the agreement is modified to adopt the new tax treatment.
Impact of Misconduct on Texas Alimony
Adultery: Yes. Texas Family Code § 8.052(10) lists marital misconduct including adultery as a factor courts must consider when determining maintenance. Adultery by the requesting spouse does not automatically bar them from receiving maintenance but can reduce the amount or duration awarded. Adultery by the paying spouse can be a factor supporting a larger or longer maintenance award. Additionally, if the adulterous spouse used community funds to support the affair, the court may consider that waste of assets under § 8.052(6).
Other marital misconduct: Yes. Texas Family Code § 8.052(10) explicitly lists marital misconduct including adultery and cruel treatment as a statutory factor in determining maintenance. Additionally, § 8.052(6) addresses excessive or abnormal expenditures or destruction, concealment, or fraudulent disposition of community property. § 8.052(11) considers any history or pattern of family violence. Misconduct is one factor among many and does not independently determine the outcome.
Additional Texas rules: Texas uses the legal term “spousal maintenance” for court-ordered support; “contractual alimony” is a separate concept agreed upon by the parties in a settlement and governed by contract law with no statutory caps on amount or duration. Texas is one of the most restrictive states for court-ordered maintenance — only about 10% of divorces result in a maintenance award. Eligibility requires both (a) insufficient property to meet minimum reasonable needs AND (b) at least one qualifying condition: marriage of 10+ years, incapacitating disability, custodian of a disabled child, or domestic violence conviction/deferred adjudication within 2 years of filing. Under § 8.053, there is a rebuttable presumption against maintenance for marriages of 10+ years unless the requesting spouse demonstrates diligent efforts to earn sufficient income or develop necessary skills. The 2023 legislative reform (effective September 1, 2023) revised eligibility for spouses caring for disabled children so that the spouse no longer must be completely unable to work outside the home — the court now considers whether the spouse’s actual income meets minimum reasonable needs. Contractual alimony allows parties to bypass all statutory restrictions through negotiation but is enforceable only under contract law principles, not family code enforcement mechanisms.
Official Sources & Resources
- Cornell LII — Alimony: law.cornell.edu
- NCSL Spousal Support: ncsl.org
- Texas Alimony Statute: Texas Family Code, Title 1, Subtitle C, Chapter 8 (Maintenance), Subchapter B (Spousal Maintenance), Sections 8.051 through 8.057. Key sections: § 8.051 (Eligibility), § 8.052 (Factors in Determining Maintenance), § 8.053 (Presumption), § 8.054 (Duration), § 8.055 (Amount), § 8.056 (Termination), § 8.057 (Modification).
Last verified May 2026. Contact us if you notice outdated information.