Alimony (spousal support) in Virginia 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 Virginia, how courts calculate amounts, duration guidelines, modification rules, and the impact of remarriage, cohabitation, and retirement on support obligations. Understanding Virginia’s alimony laws helps both paying and receiving spouses plan their financial futures.
Verified against Virginia family law statutes as of May 2026.
In This Virginia Alimony Guide:
Types of Alimony in Virginia
Virginia courts may award the following types of alimony:
- Temporary (pendente lite
- during divorce proceedings)
- Rehabilitative (defined period for education or job training)
- Permanent/Indefinite (no set end date
- common in long marriages)
- Lump-sum (one-time payment). Courts may award any combination of these types under Va. Code § 20-107.1.
How Virginia Calculates Alimony
Virginia uses a guideline formula for calculating alimony: Temporary (pendente lite) formula per Va. Code § 16.1-278.17:1: Without minor children: 27% of payor’s monthly gross income minus 50% of payee’s monthly gross income. With minor children: 26% of payor’s monthly gross income minus 58% of payee’s monthly gross income. This formula applies ONLY when combined monthly gross income does not exceed 10000 per month. Above that threshold, court uses the 13 statutory factors. For permanent support: Judicial discretion using 13 statutory factors — no formula exists.
Virginia courts consider these factors when determining alimony:
- Va. Code § 20-107.1(E) enumerates 13 factors: (1) Obligations
- needs
- and financial resources of the parties
- including income from all pension
- profit-sharing
- or retirement plans; (2) Standard of living established during the marriage; (3) Duration of the marriage; (4) Age and physical and mental condition of the parties and any special circumstances of the family; (5) Extent to which age
- physical or mental condition
- or special circumstances of any child would make it appropriate that a party not seek employment outside the home; (6) Contributions
- monetary and nonmonetary
- of each party to the well-being of the family; (7) Property interests of the parties
- both real and personal
- tangible and intangible; (8) Provisions made with regard to marital property under § 20-107.3; (9) Earning capacity
- including skills
- education
- and training of the parties and present employment opportunities for persons possessing such earning capacity; (10) Opportunity for
- ability of
- and the time and costs involved for a party to acquire appropriate education
- training
- and employment to enhance earning ability; (11) Decisions regarding employment
- career
- economics
- education
- and parenting arrangements made during the marriage and their effect on present and future earning potential
- including the length of time one or both parties have been absent from the job market; (12) Extent to which either party has contributed to the attainment of education
- training
- career position
- or profession of the other party; (13) Such other factors
- including the tax consequences to each party and the circumstances and factors that contributed to the dissolution
- specifically including any ground for divorce
- as are necessary to consider the equities between the parties.
Income disparity: YES. Factor 1 of § 20-107.1(E) requires the court to consider the obligations, needs, and financial resources of both parties. A spouse must demonstrate financial need and an inability to meet reasonable needs independently. Courts evaluate income disparity as part of the overall 13-factor analysis.
Vocational evaluation: YES. Under Va. Code § 20-108.1, when a party’s earning capacity, voluntary unemployment, or voluntary underemployment is in controversy, the court may order that party to submit to a vocational evaluation by a vocational expert employed by the moving party, including interviews and testing. The court may also impute income to a party who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, considering the good faith and reasonableness of employment decisions, including decisions to attend educational or vocational programs. The court may award costs or fees for the evaluation at any time during proceedings.
Virginia Alimony Duration Guidelines
No statutory formula for duration. Virginia courts follow a judicial convention known as the “half-the-marriage” rule — support duration is approximately half the length of the marriage. This is a guideline, not a statute. Additionally, when support is not awarded but the right is reserved, Va. Code § 20-107.1 creates a rebuttable presumption that the reservation continues for a period equal to 50% of the time between the date of marriage and date of separation.
| Marriage Length | Typical Alimony Duration |
|---|---|
| Short-term (under No statutory definition. Judicial convention generally considers marriages under 5 years as short-term. Spousal support is rarely awarded for short marriages unless there is significant income imbalance or other extenuating circumstances. If awarded, duration is typically brief — a few months to a couple of years.) | Rehabilitative or bridge-the-gap; limited duration |
| Moderate-term | Durational alimony; set period based on marriage length |
| Long-term (No statutory definition. Judicial convention generally considers marriages of 20 or more years as long-term, making them more likely candidates for permanent or indefinite spousal support.+) | May qualify for permanent or indefinite alimony |
Permanent alimony: YES. Virginia courts may award permanent (indefinite duration) spousal support. More common in long-term marriages (typically 20+ years) where one spouse may not be able to become self-supporting due to age, health, or significantly interrupted career. Permanent support still terminates upon death of either party, remarriage of recipient, or qualifying cohabitation.
Modifying & Terminating Virginia Alimony
Modification: YES. Either party may petition the court to modify spousal support upon showing a material change in circumstances since the last order. For defined-duration awards, petition must be filed within the time covered by the award. However, contractual or stipulated support in a property settlement agreement generally cannot be modified by the court unless the agreement specifically reserves the right of modification. Common qualifying changes include job loss, significant income changes, serious illness, or disability.
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Cohabitation: Under Va. Code § 20-109, upon clear and convincing evidence that the recipient spouse has been habitually cohabiting with another person in a relationship analogous to a marriage for one year or more (commencing on or after July 1, 1997), the court SHALL terminate spousal support unless: (i) otherwise provided by stipulation or contract, or (ii) the recipient spouse proves by a preponderance of the evidence that termination would be unconscionable. The burden of proof is on the paying spouse to demonstrate cohabitation.
Remarriage: Remarriage of the recipient spouse automatically terminates spousal support under Va. Code § 20-109. The spouse receiving support has an affirmative duty to notify the payor spouse immediately of remarriage at the payor’s last known address.
Retirement: Under Va. Code § 20-109, the payor spouse’s attainment of full retirement age is a statutory material change in circumstances for purposes of modification. “Full retirement age” means normal Social Security retirement age — NOT early retirement age. When modification is sought based on retirement, courts consider: (1) whether retirement was contemplated when support was originally awarded; (2) whether retirement is mandatory or voluntary; (3) whether retirement results in a change in income of either party; (4) the assets or property interests of each party from the date of the support order to the hearing date. These provisions do not apply to non-modifiable contractual support.
Tax Implications of Virginia 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 Virginia 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 Virginia Alimony
Adultery: Adultery is a statutory bar to receiving permanent spousal support under Va. Code § 20-107.1(B). If the requesting spouse committed adultery and the other spouse has an adultery-based ground for divorce under § 20-91(A)(1), the court shall NOT award permanent support. Exception: the court MAY still award support if it determines from clear and convincing evidence that denial would constitute a “manifest injustice,” based upon the respective degrees of fault during the marriage and the relative economic circumstances of the parties. The adultery bar applies ONLY to permanent spousal support — it does NOT apply to temporary (pendente lite) support.
Other marital misconduct: YES, marital misconduct other than adultery (such as cruelty, desertion, constructive desertion) affects spousal support. Under Factor 13 of § 20-107.1(E), the court must consider “the circumstances and factors that contributed to the dissolution, specifically including any ground for divorce.” Non-adultery misconduct does NOT trigger a statutory bar like adultery does, but courts have discretion to consider it when determining whether to award support, the amount, and the duration. It may result in reduced support but rarely outright denial.
Additional Virginia rules: (1) Reservation of future support: court may reserve a party’s right to receive support in the future even when not currently awarding it; rebuttable presumption that reservation continues for 50% of the time between marriage date and separation date. (2) Pendente lite formula income cap: the temporary support formula applies only when combined monthly gross income does not exceed 10000; above that threshold courts use the 13-factor analysis. (3) 2018 retirement reform: Virginia added statutory language making attainment of full Social Security retirement age a material change in circumstances for modification purposes. (4) Cohabitation threshold: requires habitual cohabitation in a relationship analogous to marriage for at least one year, with the “analogous to marriage” standard and one-year duration requirement being Virginia-specific. (5) No minimum marriage length: Virginia has no statutory minimum number of years of marriage required to qualify for spousal support. (6) Virginia is a fault-based divorce state: marital fault (especially adultery) plays a more significant role in spousal support than in many other states.
Official Sources & Resources
- Cornell LII — Alimony: law.cornell.edu
- NCSL Spousal Support: ncsl.org
- Virginia Alimony Statute: Va. Code § 20-107.1 (court may decree maintenance and support of spouses — main alimony statute); Va. Code § 20-109 (modification, termination upon cohabitation/remarriage/death, retirement provisions); Va. Code § 16.1-278.17:1 (pendente lite spousal support formula); Va. Code § 20-103 (circuit court pendente lite support); Va. Code § 20-108.1 (determination of support, vocational evaluations, imputed income)
Last verified May 2026. Contact us if you notice outdated information.