Alimony (spousal support) in Missouri 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 Missouri, how courts calculate amounts, duration guidelines, modification rules, and the impact of remarriage, cohabitation, and retirement on support obligations. Understanding Missouri’s alimony laws helps both paying and receiving spouses plan their financial futures.
Verified against Missouri family law statutes as of May 2026.
In This Missouri Alimony Guide:
Types of Alimony in Missouri
Missouri courts may award the following types of alimony:
- Missouri recognizes three main forms of spousal support (called “maintenance” in Missouri
- not “alimony”): (1) Temporary maintenance (pendente lite) — awarded during divorce proceedings to cover living expenses; (2) Rehabilitative maintenance — awarded for a set period to allow a spouse to gain education
- training
- or work experience to become self-supporting; (3) Permanent/long-term maintenance — open-ended maintenance with no fixed end date
- increasingly rare
- reserved for long marriages where the recipient cannot become self-supporting due to age
- health
- or other factors. Missouri also distinguishes between modifiable maintenance (can be changed by court order) and non-modifiable maintenance (fixed amount and timeframe set by agreement of the parties
- court cannot alter). Note: HB 242 (2025 legislative session) proposed creating three statutory categories — bridge maintenance (up to 2 years for short marriages)
- rehabilitative maintenance (up to 4 years)
- and durational maintenance (based on marriage length) — but its enactment status is UNVERIFIED.
How Missouri Calculates Alimony
Missouri does not have a fixed formula for calculating alimony. Courts use judicial discretion, weighing multiple factors to determine a fair amount and duration.
Missouri courts consider these factors when determining alimony:
- Under RSMo 452.335(2)
- Missouri courts consider ALL of the following factors when determining the amount and duration of maintenance: (1) The financial resources of the party seeking maintenance
- including marital property apportioned to that party
- and the ability to meet needs independently
- including the extent to which a provision for support of a child living with the party includes a sum for that party as custodian; (2) The time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the party seeking maintenance to find appropriate employment; (3) The comparative earning capacity of each spouse; (4) The standard of living established during the marriage; (5) The obligations and assets
- including the marital property apportioned to each party and the separate property of each party; (6) The duration of the marriage; (7) The age
- and the physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking maintenance; (8) The ability of the spouse from whom maintenance is sought to meet his or her needs while meeting those of the spouse seeking maintenance; (9) The conduct of the parties during the marriage; (10) Any other relevant factors.
Income disparity: YES — Under RSMo 452.335(1), a court may grant maintenance only if it finds that the spouse seeking maintenance: (a) lacks sufficient property, including marital property apportioned to the spouse, to provide for reasonable needs; AND (b) is unable to support himself or herself through appropriate employment, OR is the custodian of a child whose condition or circumstances make it appropriate that the custodian not be required to seek employment outside the home. Both financial need and inability to self-support must be established before maintenance is awarded.
Vocational evaluation: Missouri courts may use vocational evaluations to assess a spouse’s earning capacity, but there is no statutory requirement mandating their use. Courts consider “the comparative earning capacity of each spouse” (factor 3) and “the time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the party seeking maintenance to find appropriate employment” (factor 2). Vocational experts may be retained by either party to testify about the requesting spouse’s employability, potential income, and the time/cost needed to become self-supporting. Courts may also impute income to an unemployed or underemployed spouse based on vocational evidence.
Missouri Alimony Duration Guidelines
Missouri has NO statutory duration guidelines. The court has broad discretion under RSMo 452.335 to award maintenance “for such periods of time as the court deems just.” There are no mandatory duration caps or formulas tied to marriage length in current confirmed law. Rehabilitative maintenance typically lasts 2-5 years in practice. Long-term marriages with significant income disparity commonly result in 5-8 years or longer. Permanent/indefinite maintenance remains possible but is increasingly rare. Note: Proposed HB 242 would have established duration caps — 50% of marriage length for 3-10 year marriages, 60% for 10-20 year marriages, and 75% for 20+ year marriages — but enactment is UNVERIFIED.
| Marriage Length | Typical Alimony Duration |
|---|---|
| Short-term (under UNVERIFIED — Missouri statute does not define a specific short-marriage threshold. Proposed HB 242 would have treated marriages under 3 years as eligible only for bridge maintenance (up to 2 years), but enactment is UNVERIFIED.) | Rehabilitative or bridge-the-gap; limited duration |
| Moderate-term | Durational alimony; set period based on marriage length |
| Long-term (UNVERIFIED — Missouri statute does not define a specific long-marriage threshold. In practice, marriages of 20+ years are more likely to result in long-term or permanent maintenance, but no bright-line statutory threshold exists.+) | May qualify for permanent or indefinite alimony |
Permanent alimony: YES — Missouri still allows permanent/indefinite maintenance, but it is increasingly rare. Permanent maintenance is generally reserved for spouses who, after a lengthy marriage, have poor employment prospects because of advanced age, ill health, disability, or long absence from the workforce. The court must find that the recipient spouse lacks sufficient property to provide for reasonable needs and is unable to support themselves through appropriate employment.
Modifying & Terminating Missouri Alimony
Modification: YES — Modifiable maintenance may be modified under RSMo 452.370 upon a showing of “changed circumstances so substantial and continuing as to make the terms unreasonable.” Either party (payor or recipient) can petition for modification. The court considers all financial resources of both parties, including the earning capacity of a party who is not employed and the extent to which expenses are shared by a cohabitant. Non-modifiable maintenance (set by written agreement of the parties) generally cannot be modified by the court, even in cases of hardship such as permanent disability. Modification may increase or decrease the amount, or terminate the obligation entirely.
⚖️ Get Free Divorce Guides
Free · No spam · Unsubscribe anytime
Cohabitation: Cohabitation does NOT automatically terminate maintenance in Missouri. Unlike remarriage, cohabitation is treated as a potential change in circumstances that may justify modification or termination. The paying spouse must petition the court and prove that the recipient is cohabitating with a new partner. Under RSMo 452.370, the court considers “the extent to which the reasonable expenses of either party are, or should be, shared by a spouse or other person with whom he or she cohabits.” If the court finds the cohabiting partner is subsidizing the recipient’s living expenses such that their reasonable needs are being met, maintenance may be reduced or terminated. The cohabitating partners may need to hold themselves out as a married couple for maximum impact.
Remarriage: Remarriage of the receiving spouse automatically terminates the obligation to pay future modifiable maintenance, unless otherwise agreed in writing or expressly provided in the judgment (RSMo 452.370). A written agreement between the parties can expressly or by implication extend the maintenance obligation beyond remarriage. Non-modifiable maintenance generally does NOT automatically terminate upon remarriage — it continues per the terms of the agreement. Maintenance also terminates upon the death of either party.
Retirement: Retirement of the payor may constitute a “substantial and continuing change in circumstances” that justifies modification of modifiable maintenance under RSMo 452.370, particularly if retirement results in a significant reduction in income. The court will evaluate whether the retirement was voluntary or involuntary, whether it was made in good faith (not solely to avoid maintenance), and whether it is reasonable given the payor’s age and health. If the payor signed a non-modifiable agreement, retirement generally does NOT relieve the obligation — the court lacks authority to modify a non-modifiable contract even upon retirement.
Tax Implications of Missouri 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 Missouri 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 Missouri Alimony
Adultery: Missouri is a no-fault divorce state, but adultery can be considered as part of “the conduct of the parties during the marriage” — factor (9) under RSMo 452.335(2). However, adultery alone typically has limited impact on maintenance awards. Judges generally do not punish spouses for marital misconduct unless the conduct affected the couple’s finances. If adultery involved dissipation of marital assets (e.g., spending marital funds on an affair partner, luxury trips), the court is more likely to consider it significant and may adjust maintenance accordingly. Adultery is one of ten factors and is weighed against all other evidence.
Other marital misconduct: Yes, marital misconduct beyond adultery can be considered under the “conduct of the parties during the marriage” factor (9) in RSMo 452.335(2). This can include domestic violence, substance abuse, financial misconduct, or other behavior affecting the marriage. However, as with adultery, misconduct is only one of ten factors and courts generally give it limited weight unless it had a direct financial impact on the marriage or the requesting spouse’s ability to be self-supporting. Missouri courts do not typically use maintenance as a punitive tool.
Additional Missouri rules: (1) Missouri uses the term “maintenance” rather than “alimony” in all statutes and court proceedings. (2) Missouri distinguishes between modifiable maintenance (ordered by the court at trial, subject to future modification) and non-modifiable maintenance (agreed upon by parties, fixed amount and duration, court cannot modify even in hardship). Only modifiable maintenance can be ordered at trial; non-modifiable maintenance requires a written agreement. (3) Non-modifiable maintenance does not automatically terminate upon remarriage or death — it continues per the agreement terms unless the agreement specifies otherwise. (4) There is no statutory minimum marriage length required to qualify for maintenance. (5) Missouri courts have increasingly moved away from permanent maintenance in favor of rehabilitative or time-limited awards, though permanent maintenance remains legally available. (6) HB 242 was introduced in the 2025 Missouri legislative session proposing significant alimony reform including formal maintenance categories (bridge, rehabilitative, durational) and duration caps tied to marriage length — enactment status UNVERIFIED as of May 2026. (7) There is no statutory cap on maintenance amounts in Missouri.
Official Sources & Resources
- Cornell LII — Alimony: law.cornell.edu
- NCSL Spousal Support: ncsl.org
- Missouri Alimony Statute: RSMo 452.335 (maintenance orders — eligibility, factors, amount, and duration); RSMo 452.370 (modification and termination of maintenance — changed circumstances, remarriage, death, cohabitation)
Last verified May 2026. Contact us if you notice outdated information.