Which states publish an actual formula?

Few. Illinois and New York both compute a guideline amount by statute, and both cap it against a share of the parties’ combined income. Texas and Florida publish no amount formula but do cap the amount and limit the duration, which is a different and narrower kind of answer. The state page says which case yours is before it shows you anything.

What is the difference between a ceiling and an estimate?

A ceiling is the most the statute permits — it is law, and it is computable. An estimate is a prediction of what a court will order, which nothing on this site attempts. Texas caps maintenance at the lesser of $5,000 a month or twenty per cent of the obligor’s average monthly gross income; that is a real number and it is not a forecast of any particular award.

How long does alimony last?

That depends on the state and on the length of the marriage, and the states differ in kind as well as degree. Illinois multiplies the marriage length by a statutory factor. New York publishes an advisory range. Texas sets hard year ceilings. Florida caps duration as a share of the marriage and bars durational alimony entirely below three years. Each state page shows its own rule with the statute behind it.

Texas Alimony & Spousal Support

Only a handful of states publish a formula for spousal support. Some cap the amount without publishing a formula, and most publish a factor checklist and no number at all. Pick your state to see which of the three it is, run whatever math it does publish, and read the factors a court actually weighs.

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Estimate only — not legal advice. This is the published math for Texas spousal support, shown as a range. Your actual outcome depends on facts, evidence, and decisions this page cannot see.

Texas: Statutory factors — no formula

Higher earner's annual gross income$This state's rule runs on gross income.Other spouse's annual gross income$Length of the marriageyearsDuration rules key on this in every state that publishes one.

Statutory ceiling — the most Texas allows

$2,000

per month

This is a ceiling, not an estimate. Texas publishes no formula for the amount — the statute caps it and the court sets it on the factors below. Orders are routinely lower, and many spouses are not eligible for any award at all.

Texas publishes no formula for the amount — but §8.055(a) does set a hard ceiling: a court may not order maintenance requiring monthly payment of more than the LESSER of $5,000 or 20 percent of the obligor's average monthly gross income. The figure above is that ceiling, not an estimate of an award. A Texas court routinely orders less, and §8.051 means many spouses are not eligible for any maintenance at all. §8.055(a-1) defines gross income for this purpose: it includes wages, commissions, overtime, tips, bonuses, interest, dividends, royalties, self-employment income, net rental income, severance, retirement and pension benefits, trust income, annuities, capital gains, unemployment benefits, gifts and prizes; it excludes return of capital, federal public assistance and TANF, foster-care payments, VA service-connected disability compensation, SSI and social security and disability benefits, and workers' compensation.

How long it may run

up to 5.0 years

Married at least 10 but not more than 20 years: no more than 5 years

These are ceilings, and §8.054(a)(2) pushes the other way: the court must limit maintenance to the shortest reasonable period that lets the spouse earn enough for their minimum reasonable needs, unless that ability is substantially or totally diminished by disability, by duties as custodian of an infant or young child of the marriage, or by another compelling impediment. Where eligibility rests on disability or on caring for a disabled child, §8.054(b) lets maintenance run for as long as the spouse continues to qualify — the year limits above do not apply to those two grounds.

Tex. Fam. Code §8.054(a)

Court-ready worksheet

Every step, the statute behind each figure, and the source each number was transcribed from — on one page you can print and take to a consultation.

legalbythenumbers.com · worksheet prepared 2026-08-03

Texas spousal support — what the statute publishes

What went in

Higher earner’s annual gross income: $120,000
Other spouse’s annual gross income: $45,000
Length of the marriage: 12 years
What this state publishes: Statutory factors — no formula
Duration rule: Married at least 10 but not more than 20 years: no more than 5 years

Statutory monthly CEILING — the most this state allows

$2,000

How it was worked out

Step by step

20% of the obligor's average monthly gross income
$10,000 × 20%
Tex. Fam. Code §8.055(a)
$2,000.00
Statutory ceiling: the lesser of the two
min($2,000, $5,000)
Tex. Fam. Code §8.055(a)
$2,000.00

Caveats attached to this result

Texas publishes no formula for the amount — but §8.055(a) does set a hard ceiling: a court may not order maintenance requiring monthly payment of more than the LESSER of $5,000 or 20 percent of the obligor's average monthly gross income. The figure above is that ceiling, not an estimate of an award. A Texas court routinely orders less, and §8.051 means many spouses are not eligible for any maintenance at all. §8.055(a-1) defines gross income for this purpose: it includes wages, commissions, overtime, tips, bonuses, interest, dividends, royalties, self-employment income, net rental income, severance, retirement and pension benefits, trust income, annuities, capital gains, unemployment benefits, gifts and prizes; it excludes return of capital, federal public assistance and TANF, foster-care payments, VA service-connected disability compensation, SSI and social security and disability benefits, and workers' compensation.

Where these figures come from

Texas Family Code ch. 8 (Maintenance) — §8.051 eligibility, §8.052 factors, §8.054 duration as amended by Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., ch. 443 (H.B. 2070), §8.055 amount
https://tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/FA/htm/FA.8.htm
Verified 2026-08-03 · effective 2023-06-09 · official calculator: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/FA/htm/FA.8.htm

What a Texas court actually weighs

Transcribed from Tex. Fam. Code §8.052. These are the statutory factors, in the statute’s own order.

01Each spouse's ability to provide for that spouse's minimum reasonable needs independently, considering that spouse's financial resources on dissolution of the marriage
02The education and employment skills of the spouses, the time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the spouse seeking maintenance to earn sufficient income, and the availability and feasibility of that education or training
03The duration of the marriage
04The age, employment history, earning ability, and physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking maintenance
05The effect on each spouse's ability to provide for that spouse's minimum reasonable needs while providing periodic child support payments or maintenance, if applicable
06Acts by either spouse resulting in excessive or abnormal expenditures or destruction, concealment, or fraudulent disposition of community property, joint tenancy, or other property held in common
07The contribution by one spouse to the education, training, or increased earning power of the other spouse
08The property brought to the marriage by either spouse
09The contribution of a spouse as homemaker
10Marital misconduct, including adultery and cruel treatment, by either spouse during the marriage
11Any history or pattern of family violence, as defined by §71.004

Who is eligible at all in Texas

Texas is unusually strict about who may receive maintenance at all. Under §8.051 the spouse seeking it must first lack sufficient property, including separate property, to provide for their minimum reasonable needs — and then must also satisfy one of the gates below.
The other spouse was convicted of, or received deferred adjudication for, an offence constituting family violence against the spouse or the spouse's child, committed during the marriage and within two years before the suit was filed or while it was pending.
The spouse seeking maintenance is unable to earn sufficient income to provide for their minimum reasonable needs because of an incapacitating physical or mental disability.
The spouses were married 10 years or longer and the spouse seeking maintenance lacks the ability to earn sufficient income to provide for their minimum reasonable needs.
The spouse seeking maintenance is the custodian of a child of the marriage, of any age, who requires substantial care and personal supervision because of a physical or mental disability that prevents that spouse from earning sufficient income.

Spousal support and child support are set separately and interact — in New York the child-support arrangement chooses which maintenance formula applies. Run your state’s child support guideline alongside this, and build the parenting schedule that feeds it with the custody planner.

Verified 2026-08-03 against Texas Family Code ch. 8 (Maintenance) — §8.051 eligibility, §8.052 factors, §8.054 duration as amended by Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., ch. 443 (H.B. 2070), §8.055 amount (effective 2023-06-09)

Source of record

Run it against the official tool: Texas Family Code chapter 8, as published by the Legislature ↗

Courts retain discretion — guideline results can be adjusted or deviated from. This is the published guideline math, not a prediction of your order.

🎓 Understand this tool

What it is

A state-by-state answer to a question most alimony calculators skip: does your state publish a formula for spousal support at all? A few do. Some publish no formula but cap the amount by statute. Most publish a list of factors and no number whatsoever, and this tool says so rather than borrowing a guideline from somewhere else.

How it works

Each state page is driven by a rule pack transcribed from that state’s own statute, and the pack records which of three kinds the state is. A formula state — Illinois and New York among the few — computes a guideline amount from both incomes, usually a share of the payor’s income less a share of the payee’s, then limits the result so the payee does not end up above a set share of the parties’ combined income. New York applies its formula only to the payor’s income up to a cap the Unified Court System republishes every two years, and switches between two formulas depending on whether the payor is also the non-custodial parent paying child support. A cap state publishes no formula but does set a ceiling: Texas at the lesser of $5,000 a month or twenty per cent of the obligor’s average monthly gross income, Florida at thirty-five per cent of the difference between the parties’ net incomes or the obligee’s reasonable need, whichever is less. A factors state publishes neither, and the page shows the statutory checklist instead.

Getting the most from it

Start with the badge at the top of your state’s page. It tells you which of the three kinds you are in before any figure appears.
Enter annual incomes on the basis the page names — gross or net differs by state, and using the wrong one produces a confident answer to the wrong question.
Enter the length of the marriage. Every state that publishes anything about duration keys it to this.
Read the factors. In most states they are the entire answer, and they are what a lawyer will ask you about first.

Reading your result

A guideline figure is presumptive, not an order — a court can depart from it and explains why when it does. A ceiling is something else again: it is the most the statute permits, so an award at the ceiling is the exception rather than the expectation, and many spouses are not eligible for any award at all. Where the page shows no number, that is the finding, not a gap in the data.

What it can't tell you

This does not predict what a court will order, does not decide whether you are eligible, and does not account for property division, tax treatment, or the conduct-based provisions several states attach to spousal support. It cannot weigh factors — that is the judicial act itself. Temporary support during a case often runs on entirely different local rules than the post-divorce figures shown here. A family lawyer licensed in your state is the person who answers your question.

Frequently asked questions

Because most states publish no formula for the amount of spousal support — the statute lists factors and the court decides. Where that is true, the honest output is the factor list and whatever ceiling or duration limit the statute does set. A site that shows you a dollar figure for one of those states has applied a guideline the state never adopted.

Part of: Does your state have an alimony formula? →

Related calculators

Custody Planner

Build a parenting schedule from the standard rotations courts see most — 2-2-3, 2-2-5-5, 3-4-4-3, week-on-week-off, or every other weekend — then count the overnights exactly. The percentage carries straight into your state’s child support calculator, and the calendar exports and prints.

Child Support

Every state sets child support with a published guideline formula — income shares, percentage of income, or the Melson formula. Pick your state to run its own math step by step, see which figures the statute actually uses, and open the official worksheet it comes from.

Change alerts — when a state revises the guideline or deadline behind this page

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⚖️Texas Alimony & Spousal Support