Spousal Maintenance in Texas
Texas is one of the hardest states in the country in which to obtain court-ordered spousal maintenance, and the reason is statutory.
The Threshold
Before any question of amount or duration, the spouse seeking maintenance must lack sufficient property on dissolution — including their own separate property — to provide for their minimum reasonable needs (Tex. Fam. Code § 8.051). That is a gate, not a factor. A spouse who clears it must then fall into one of the statutory categories, which include family violence by the other spouse within a defined period, a marriage of ten years or longer where the spouse cannot earn enough to meet minimum reasonable needs, or an incapacitating physical or mental disability.
Contractual Alimony Is a Different Thing
Spouses can agree to payments that a court could never have ordered. That agreement is contractual, is enforced as a contract rather than by contempt, and is negotiated as part of the overall settlement — frequently in exchange for something on the property side. In practice this is how most post-divorce support in Texas actually happens.
Why It Interacts With Property Division
Because the maintenance gate asks whether the spouse has sufficient property, the property division and the maintenance question cannot be negotiated in isolation. An award that leaves one spouse with illiquid assets and no income is a different result from one that leaves them with the same value in cash.
Questions
Does Texas have alimony?
Texas has court-ordered spousal maintenance, which is narrower than alimony as most states use the word. Texas Family Code § 8.051 sets the eligibility gate, and a spouse must clear it before a court may order maintenance at all. Contractual alimony agreed between the spouses is a separate thing and is enforced as a contract.
Who qualifies for spousal maintenance in Texas?
A spouse who lacks sufficient property on divorce to provide for their minimum reasonable needs, and who also fits one of the categories in Texas Family Code § 8.051 — including a marriage of ten years or longer where the spouse cannot earn enough to meet those needs, a disability, custody of a child requiring substantial care, or certain recent family violence convictions.
How long can spousal maintenance last?
Texas Family Code § 8.054 caps the duration by the length of the marriage, with longer marriages permitting longer orders, and it directs the court to limit maintenance to the shortest reasonable period. Longer or indefinite maintenance is possible where a disability or the care of a disabled child prevents the spouse from earning enough, subject to review.
Is there a limit on the amount?
Yes. Texas Family Code § 8.055 caps periodic maintenance at the lesser of two figures — a fixed statutory dollar ceiling, or twenty percent of the paying spouse's average monthly gross income. Whichever is smaller controls.