Spousal Maintenance in Texas — Who Qualifies, How Much, and How Long

Texas is one of the most restrictive states in the country when it comes to spousal maintenance — what most people call alimony. Unlike many states where courts have broad discretion to award support based on the length of the marriage and the disparity in the parties’ incomes, Texas law imposes specific threshold requirements that must be met before a court can even consider awarding maintenance. Understanding those requirements, how the amount is calculated, and how long payments last is essential for any spouse entering a Texas divorce who is either seeking maintenance or who may be ordered to pay it.

The terminology matters. Texas Family Code Chapter 8 uses the term “spousal maintenance” for court-ordered post-divorce support. Contractual alimony — support that both spouses voluntarily agree to as part of a settlement — is a separate concept governed by contract law rather than Chapter 8 and is not subject to the same statutory limitations. Contractual alimony can be agreed to in any amount and for any duration the parties choose, and it is enforceable as a contract term in the divorce decree. What cannot be ordered by a court over one spouse’s objection — absent meeting the statutory threshold — is spousal maintenance under Chapter 8.

Who Qualifies for Spousal Maintenance in Texas

Texas Family Code Section 8.051 sets out the eligibility requirements for court-ordered spousal maintenance. To even be considered for maintenance, the spouse seeking it must first establish that they will lack sufficient property — including the property awarded in the divorce — to provide for their minimum reasonable needs after the marriage ends. This threshold requirement applies regardless of which of the qualifying circumstances the spouse relies on.

Once the minimum reasonable needs threshold is established, the spouse must satisfy at least one of the following circumstances.

• The marriage lasted ten years or more and the spouse seeking maintenance lacks the ability to earn sufficient income to meet their minimum reasonable needs. This is the most commonly invoked qualifying circumstance in Bexar County divorce cases. The inability to earn sufficient income can result from the spouse’s age, health, education level, employment history, or the fact that they left the workforce during the marriage to care for children. A spouse who voluntarily chose not to work during the marriage is not automatically entitled to maintenance — they must demonstrate an actual inability to meet their minimum reasonable needs through self-support.
• The spouse seeking maintenance has a physical or mental disability that prevents them from earning sufficient income to meet their minimum reasonable needs, regardless of the length of the marriage. The disability must be documented and must be of sufficient severity to actually prevent adequate self-support.
• The spouse seeking maintenance is the custodian of a child of the marriage who requires substantial care and personal supervision because of a physical or mental disability, and that caregiving responsibility prevents the spouse from earning sufficient income to meet their minimum reasonable needs. This qualifying circumstance recognizes that a parent who must provide full-time care to a disabled child is functionally unable to maintain employment sufficient to meet their own needs.
• The other spouse — the one who would be ordered to pay — was convicted of or received deferred adjudication for a family violence offense against the spouse seeking maintenance or a child of either spouse during the marriage, regardless of when during the marriage the offense occurred. A family violence conviction or deferred adjudication is the only qualifying circumstance that does not require the marriage to have lasted any minimum length.

How the Amount Is Calculated

Texas Family Code Section 8.055 establishes the cap on spousal maintenance. The maximum monthly maintenance amount a court can order is the lesser of $5,000 per month or 20 percent of the paying spouse’s average monthly gross income. This is a hard statutory ceiling — a court cannot order maintenance above this cap regardless of the requesting spouse’s needs or the paying spouse’s income.

• Gross income for purposes of the maintenance cap is calculated similarly to the net resources calculation used for child support, though the maintenance calculation uses gross income rather than net resources. It includes wages, salary, self-employment income, rental income, interest and dividends, and other regular sources of income. The 20 percent calculation applies to the paying spouse’s average monthly gross income, which in cases involving variable income — self-employment, commission-based compensation, seasonal work — requires examination of the income history over a reasonable period rather than a single month’s earnings.
• Within the statutory cap, the court determines the appropriate amount based on the factors in Texas Family Code Section 8.052, including each spouse’s financial resources and ability to meet their own needs, the education and employment skills of the spouse seeking maintenance, the duration of the marriage, the age and health of both spouses, the contribution of each spouse to the marriage including homemaking and childcare, marital misconduct by either spouse, and any history of family violence.
• The marital misconduct factor — specifically adultery and cruel treatment — is where the fault grounds for divorce intersect with spousal maintenance. A court that finds one spouse committed adultery or engaged in cruelty can consider that conduct in determining the maintenance amount, potentially reducing or eliminating maintenance for the at-fault spouse or increasing it for the innocent spouse beyond what the income disparity alone might support.

How Long Maintenance Lasts — The Durational Limits

Texas Family Code Section 8.054 imposes strict durational limits on spousal maintenance that reflect the legislature’s position that maintenance should be transitional rather than permanent. The maximum duration depends on the qualifying circumstance and the length of the marriage.

• For marriages that lasted at least ten years but less than twenty years, the maximum maintenance period is five years. For marriages that lasted at least twenty years but less than thirty years, the maximum period is seven years. For marriages that lasted thirty years or more, the maximum period is ten years. For maintenance awarded based on family violence — regardless of marriage length — the maximum period is five years.
• For maintenance awarded because of the requesting spouse’s disability or because of the disability of a child requiring full-time care, there is no fixed durational limit — the court may order maintenance for as long as the qualifying disability continues to prevent self-support.

These are maximum periods, not default periods. A court can order a shorter maintenance period than the statutory maximum if the evidence supports it, and courts frequently do so when the requesting spouse has realistic prospects of becoming self-sufficient in less than the maximum time.

Maintenance terminates automatically — regardless of any court order — when either spouse dies, when the receiving spouse remarries, or when the receiving spouse cohabitates with another person in a permanent place of abode on a continuing conjugal basis under Texas Family Code Section 8.056. The paying spouse must file a motion to terminate maintenance based on cohabitation — it does not terminate automatically without a court order in the cohabitation scenario — but the right to seek termination accrues as soon as the cohabitation begins.

Modification of a Maintenance Order

A spousal maintenance order can be modified or terminated before the end of the ordered period when there has been a material and substantial change in circumstances of either party under Texas Family Code Section 8.057. A significant increase or decrease in the paying spouse’s income, a significant improvement in the receiving spouse’s financial situation or earning capacity, the receiving spouse’s completion of education or training that enables self-support, or a change in the disability status that formed the basis for the award are all circumstances that can support modification.

Modification proceedings are initiated by filing a motion in the court that entered the original divorce decree. Either party can seek modification — the paying spouse can seek reduction or termination if their income has decreased or the receiving spouse’s circumstances have improved, and the receiving spouse can seek an increase if their circumstances have worsened or the paying spouse’s income has increased substantially.

If you are going through a divorce in San Antonio or Bexar County and want an honest assessment of whether spousal maintenance applies to your situation — either as the spouse who may qualify or as the spouse who may be ordered to pay — call Barton & Associates at 210-500-0000. Consultations are free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day.