Alimony (spousal support) in Arkansas 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 Arkansas, how courts calculate amounts, duration guidelines, modification rules, and the impact of remarriage, cohabitation, and retirement on support obligations. Understanding Arkansas’s alimony laws helps both paying and receiving spouses plan their financial futures.
Verified against Arkansas family law statutes as of May 2026.
In This Arkansas Alimony Guide:
Types of Alimony in Arkansas
Arkansas courts may award the following types of alimony:
- Temporary (pendente lite)
- Rehabilitative
- Permanent. Rehabilitative is by far the most common
- accounting for approximately 70% of all Arkansas spousal support orders. Temporary alimony provides support during divorce proceedings. Permanent alimony is rare
- reserved for long-term marriages where the recipient cannot become self-supporting due to age
- disability
- or other significant barriers.
How Arkansas Calculates Alimony
Arkansas does not have a fixed formula for calculating alimony. Courts use judicial discretion, weighing multiple factors to determine a fair amount and duration.
Arkansas courts consider these factors when determining alimony:
- Arkansas does NOT enumerate factors in the statute itself — factors are derived from case law. Primary considerations: (1) the requesting spouse’s financial need
- and (2) the other spouse’s ability to pay. Secondary factors developed through case law include: (1) financial circumstances of both parties; (2) the couple’s past standard of living; (3) the value of jointly owned property; (4) the amount and nature of both parties’ income
- current and anticipated; (5) the extent and nature of the resources and assets of each party; (6) the amount of income of each party that is spendable; (7) the earning ability and capacity of each party; (8) the property awarded or given to one party by the court or the other party; (9) the disposition made of the homestead or jointly owned property; (10) the condition of health and medical needs of both parties; (11) the duration of the marriage; (12) the amount of child support.
Income disparity: YES. The requesting spouse must demonstrate a genuine financial need for support, and the other spouse must have the ability to pay. Need and ability to pay are the primary threshold requirements. Without showing income disparity or financial need, alimony will not be awarded.
Vocational evaluation: YES. Arkansas courts may use vocational evaluations to assess earning capacity, particularly in rehabilitative alimony cases. For rehabilitative alimony, the recipient may be required to present a feasible vocational plan to the court designed to prepare them to enter or return to the workforce, which may include education or training. Courts focus on what a spouse can earn (earning capacity) rather than only what they currently earn, and vocational evaluations help establish realistic earning potential.
Arkansas Alimony Duration Guidelines
No binding statutory duration guidelines, but courts follow general patterns. Rehabilitative alimony typically lasts 6 months to 5 years depending on the recipient’s plan for self-sufficiency. Non-binding guideline: approximately 1 year of support per 3 years of marriage (e.g., 15-year marriage may yield about 5 years of support). Marriages under 5 years rarely receive alimony beyond temporary support. Marriages of 5-15 years typically qualify for rehabilitative alimony of 1-5 years. Marriages exceeding 15 years may qualify for longer rehabilitative periods or, in limited circumstances, permanent alimony.
| Marriage Length | Typical Alimony Duration |
|---|---|
| Short-term (under Under 5 years (marriages under 5 years rarely result in alimony beyond temporary support during proceedings)) | Rehabilitative or bridge-the-gap; limited duration |
| Moderate-term | Durational alimony; set period based on marriage length |
| Long-term (20+ years (permanent alimony is generally reserved for marriages of 20 or more years where the recipient cannot become self-supporting)+) | May qualify for permanent or indefinite alimony |
Permanent alimony: YES, but rare. Permanent alimony is reserved for long-term marriages (typically 20+ years) where the requesting spouse cannot become self-supporting due to age, disability, or other significant barriers to employment. The same factors used for rehabilitative alimony apply to permanent alimony analysis.
Modifying & Terminating Arkansas Alimony
Modification: YES. Either the paying or receiving spouse may petition the court for review, modification, or both at any time based upon a significant and material change of circumstances. Common qualifying changes include involuntary job loss, permanent disability, substantial change in either party’s income, retirement, or major health events. The burden is on the petitioner to demonstrate the material change.
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Cohabitation: Full-time cohabitation with an intimate partner automatically terminates alimony. Under Ark. Code § 9-12-312, living full time with another person in an intimate, cohabitating relationship is a statutory termination event equivalent to remarriage. The paying spouse must file a motion to enforce termination, but the court has no discretion to continue payments once full-time cohabitation is established. This is stricter than many states — Arkansas does not require the payor to prove the cohabitation reduced the recipient’s financial need.
Remarriage: Remarriage of the recipient automatically terminates alimony under Ark. Code § 9-12-312, unless the parties have agreed otherwise in writing. The paying spouse may still be required to pay any arrears that accrued before the remarriage date.
Retirement: The payor’s retirement may constitute a significant and material change of circumstances that can support a petition to modify or terminate alimony under Ark. Code § 9-12-312. Retirement is specifically recognized as an example of a qualifying circumstance. The court will evaluate whether the retirement is legitimate and voluntary, and will consider the payor’s reduced income and ability to continue payments.
Tax Implications of Arkansas 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 Arkansas 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 Arkansas Alimony
Adultery: Adultery is NOT a statutory factor in Arkansas alimony decisions. The Arkansas Supreme Court confirmed in Wright v. Wright, 302 Ark. 157 (1990), that adultery is irrelevant to alimony unless it meaningfully relates to the recipient’s financial need or the payor’s ability to pay. Limited exception: if marital funds were dissipated on the affair (hotels, gifts, expenses for a paramour), those amounts may be addressed as dissipation of marital assets in property division, which can indirectly affect the overall financial picture.
Other marital misconduct: Marital misconduct other than adultery is also NOT a statutory factor in Arkansas alimony. Fault-based grounds for divorce (cruelty, indignities, etc.) do not change the alimony calculation. However, if the misconduct has a direct, demonstrable financial impact (e.g., it caused the requesting spouse to suffer a mental breakdown affecting earning capacity, or the offending spouse depleted marital assets), the court may consider it to the extent it is financially relevant.
Additional Arkansas rules: (1) Arkansas does NOT enumerate alimony factors in the statute — the statute grants broad judicial discretion based on “circumstances of the parties and the nature of the case,” with factors developed entirely through case law. (2) Cohabitation is treated as an automatic termination event equivalent to remarriage — stricter than most states, which require showing reduced financial need. (3) Arkansas state tax law has decoupled from the 2018 federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act change — alimony remains deductible for payors and taxable to recipients on Arkansas state returns under § 26-51-417. (4) The rehabilitative alimony definition requires payments for “a short, but specific and terminable period of time, which will cease when the recipient is, in the exercise of reasonable efforts, in a position of self-support.” (5) Alimony also automatically terminates if the recipient establishes a relationship producing a child that results in a court order directing another person to pay support to the recipient, or directing the recipient to provide support of another person who is not a descendant of the payor. (6) Arkansas is gender-neutral — the statute authorizes alimony “of the wife or the husband.”
Official Sources & Resources
- Cornell LII — Alimony: law.cornell.edu
- NCSL Spousal Support: ncsl.org
- Arkansas Alimony Statute: Ark. Code § 9-12-312 (Alimony — Child support — Bond — Method of payment — Definition). Tax provision: Ark. Code § 26-51-417 (Deductions — Alimony or separate maintenance).
Last verified May 2026. Contact us if you notice outdated information.