Can I Get Alimony in Texas?
Texas Makes It Hard to Get Court-Ordered Spousal Support
Texas is one of the most restrictive states in the country when it comes to alimony — or "spousal maintenance," as the Family Code calls it. There is no automatic right to ongoing support after divorce. To qualify for court-ordered maintenance under Chapter 8 of the Texas Family Code, you must clear two separate hurdles.
First, you must prove that you will lack sufficient property after the divorce to provide for your minimum reasonable needs. Second, you must fit into a statutory eligibility category:
- Marriage lasted 10 years or more, and you cannot earn enough to meet your minimum reasonable needs
- Family violence — your spouse was convicted of or received deferred adjudication for a family violence offense against you or a child of the marriage within the two years before you filed for divorce or while the divorce was pending
- Disability or caregiving — you cannot earn sufficient income because of an incapacitating physical or mental disability, or you are the custodian of a child of the marriage who requires substantial care and supervision because of a physical or mental disability
Even if you qualify, Texas imposes a rebuttable presumption against awarding maintenance for the 10-year marriage category. You must demonstrate that you exercised diligence in earning income or developing necessary job skills during the separation period.
How Much Can You Receive?
The statutory cap is strict: the lesser of $5,000 per month or 20% of the paying spouse's average monthly gross income. If your spouse earns $180,000 a year ($15,000/month), your maximum is $3,000 — not $5,000.
This cap applies regardless of your actual expenses, the lifestyle you maintained during the marriage, or the disparity in your respective incomes.
Duration Limits by Marriage Length
The length of your marriage determines the maximum period a court can order maintenance:
| Marriage Duration | Maximum Support Period |
|---|---|
| Under 10 years (with family violence) | 5 years |
| 10 to 20 years | 5 years |
| 20 to 30 years | 7 years |
| 30 years or more | 10 years |
| Disability (spouse or child) | Indefinite, reviewed periodically |
These are ceilings, not guarantees. A judge can order a shorter duration — and maintenance terminates automatically if the receiving spouse remarries or permanently lives with another person with whom they have a romantic relationship.
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Temporary Spousal Support Works Differently
While the divorce is pending, either spouse can request temporary spousal support through a Temporary Orders Hearing under § 6.502. Temporary support is not governed by Chapter 8's strict eligibility gates. Courts have broader discretion to maintain the financial status quo while the case progresses. Temporary support ends when the divorce is finalized — it does not convert into post-divorce maintenance automatically.
Contractual Alimony: The Workaround
Because court-ordered maintenance is so limited, most Texas divorces that include ongoing support use contractual alimony instead. This is a private agreement between the spouses, negotiated as part of the property settlement and incorporated into the divorce decree.
Contractual alimony is not subject to the $5,000/month cap, the marriage-length duration limits, or the eligibility requirements of Chapter 8. The parties can agree to any amount and any duration they choose. The tradeoff: contractual alimony is enforceable as a contract, not as a court order. If the paying spouse defaults, the receiving spouse must sue for breach of contract rather than filing a motion for contempt.
Tax Treatment Since 2019
For divorces finalized after December 31, 2018, spousal support payments are neither tax-deductible for the payer nor taxable income for the recipient. This applies to both court-ordered maintenance and contractual alimony. The change eliminates the old strategy of structuring payments to shift income into a lower tax bracket.
What This Means for Your Settlement
Given how difficult court-ordered maintenance is to obtain, spousal support in Texas is almost always a negotiation tool. Spouses frequently trade a waiver of maintenance in exchange for a larger share of the community estate — more home equity, a bigger portion of retirement accounts, or a vehicle.
If you are navigating a Texas divorce where spousal support is a factor, the Texas Divorce Financial Split & Asset Division Guide walks through the eligibility analysis, the just-and-right factors that influence property offsets, and how to model different settlement scenarios before you sit down at mediation.
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