Alimony: Definition, Types, and Tax Rules

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Alimony is a payment one spouse or former spouse is legally required to make to the other during or after a separation or divorce. It supports the spouse with lower or no income, often to help that person keep a standard of living close to the one they had during the marriage. Some states call it spousal support or spousal maintenance. A court can order it, or the spouses can agree to it in a settlement that a court then approves.

How Alimony Works

Alimony is set under state law, so the same facts can lead to different results in different states. Courts usually look at the length of the marriage, the income each spouse earns now, what each could reasonably earn later, and the gap between them. Common additional factors include age, health, each spouse’s contributions to the household (such as leaving a career to raise children), and the lifestyle the couple had during the marriage.

Two patterns drive many outcomes. When a marriage has lasted a long time, often described as more than 10 years, and one spouse earns much less than the other, an award is more likely. When both spouses have similar incomes, or the marriage was short, a court may order no alimony at all.

Once ordered, alimony is a legal obligation. A payer who refuses to pay or falls behind can face civil enforcement, and in some cases criminal charges. Either spouse can generally ask the court to modify the order if circumstances change significantly, for example a job loss or a large rise in the recipient’s income.

Some couples can seek an annulment instead of a divorce. Grounds and procedures vary by state, but an annulment can remove a spousal support obligation because the law treats the marriage as invalid.

Types of Alimony

States define their own categories. California, for instance, recognizes five types:

• Temporary alimony: paid while the divorce is pending. It can cover daily living costs and divorce expenses, and it stops when the divorce is final.
• Permanent alimony: paid monthly and continuing until either spouse dies or the recipient remarries.
• Rehabilitative alimony: paid while the recipient gets education, training or searches for work. It ends after a fixed period or once the recipient becomes self-supporting.
• Reimbursement alimony: repays the lower-earning spouse for costs such as tuition or job training that supported the other spouse. It is not ongoing.
• Lump-sum alimony: a single payment, sometimes ordered in place of a property settlement when one spouse does not want a share of the marital property.

Termination terms are flexible and often negotiated. Besides death and remarriage, an agreement or court may end payments on the payer’s retirement, when children no longer need a parent’s full-time care, or when a judge finds the recipient is not making a good-faith effort to become self-sufficient.

What Alimony Does Not Include

Alimony does not include child support, non-cash property settlements, voluntary payments made outside a divorce or separation instrument, or money the payer uses to maintain their own property. The distinction matters legally and for taxes, since only qualifying payments receive alimony tax treatment.

How Alimony Is Taxed

Agreements executed on or before December 31, 2018: alimony is deductible by the payer and taxable income to the recipient. The recipient reports it as part of gross income, and the payer’s deduction reduces adjusted gross income.

Agreements executed after December 31, 2018: the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 removed the deduction for the payer, and the recipient no longer includes the payments in federal income.

An older agreement keeps the old treatment unless it is modified after 2018 and the modification expressly states that the new rules apply. Under the old rules, a payment generally had to be made in cash under a divorce or separation instrument, could not be child support, and could not continue after the recipient’s death. Payments also could not qualify if the spouses lived in the same household under a final decree. State income tax treatment can differ from federal treatment, because not every state adopted the 2017 change.

Example of the tax difference

Hypothetical: A payer owes $2,000 a month, or $24,000 a year. Assume the payer’s federal marginal rate is 32% and the recipient’s is 12%, and ignore state taxes and phase-outs.

• Pre-2019 agreement: the payer deducts $24,000, saving about $7,680 (24,000 × 0.32). The recipient owes about $2,880 (24,000 × 0.12) on the payments. The recipient keeps roughly $21,120 after federal tax, and the payer’s net cost is about $16,320.
• Post-2018 agreement: no deduction and no inclusion. The recipient keeps the full $24,000, and the payer’s net cost is the full $24,000.

The same nominal award costs the payer more under current rules, which is why the agreement date, and any later modification, shapes settlement negotiations.

Alimony vs. Child Support

Alimony supports a spouse or former spouse. Child support is paid to a child’s custodial parent and is intended only for the needs of the children from the marriage or relationship. Child support usually ends when a child reaches 18, though states set their own rules. It has never been deductible by the payer or taxable to the recipient, so labeling a payment correctly in an agreement matters for any pre-2019 arrangement. Neither alimony nor child support can be discharged in bankruptcy.

Limitations of Alimony

Alimony rarely provides lasting security. Most awards end on remarriage or death, many are time-limited by design, and payments can be reduced through a modification request. Collecting from a payer who stops paying requires going back to court, which takes time and money.

FAQs

The Bottom Line

Alimony matters most to divorcing spouses with unequal incomes and to anyone negotiating or revising a support agreement. Because state law sets the rules and the agreement date controls federal tax treatment, the same award can cost a payer far more under current rules. Recipients should expect payments to end or shrink over time, since most awards stop on remarriage or death and collection requires going back to court.