What disqualifies you from getting alimony?

Key takeaways

Your likelihood of getting alimony depends on the law of the state where you divorce.
Little beyond having a significantly higher income disqualifies you from alimony.
Many factors—including each spouse’s conduct and relative ability to provide for their needs after separation—affect whether you’re legally entitled to alimony.

Alimony has a long history uniquely tied to the history of divorce and women’s rights dependent on and independent of their husbands. In modern times, where we aspire to treat men and women equally, alimony is relatively rare. Few recent statistics are available, but as of 2015, only about 8 to 10% of divorces involved alimony.

But what accounts for the low rates? What disqualifies you from alimony? In this article, we explore what alimony is, including a brief history leading into modern spousal support laws. We further discuss how to get alimony, what factors affect your likelihood of getting alimony and what makes alimony less likely or impossible to get.

What is alimony?

Alimony is a somewhat outdated term for payments one spouse or former spouse makes to the other:

During the divorce or separation process
After legal separation
After divorce

Tip

Although annulment and divorce are usually comparable, the possibility of alimony is one way to distinguish between them. Typically, you may request alimony during a legal separation or divorce but not an annulment. If you’re uncertain whether to seek divorce or annulment, keep the alimony differences in mind.

Many states have replaced the term alimony to distinguish it from the gendered standards established in alimony’s early days, where wives but not husbands could usually request alimony. Usually, states authorize “spousal maintenance” or “spousal support.” For simplicity in the face of the varying terms, we use “alimony” here.

Tip

Although we use alimony as a shorthand to include alimony, spousal support and spousal maintenance, some state laws distinguish between them. Check your state laws to ensure you know what your state calls alimony.

How to get alimony

There are two ways to get alimony: voluntary agreement or court order.

How to get alimony through a voluntary agreement depends on you, your spouse and your priorities. Your spouse may agree to pay alimony based on, for example:

A desire to provide for you
Property or other divorce terms you offer in exchange
A high likelihood that a court would order alimony

How to get alimony through court usually begins with filing for dissolution of marriage or divorce. You may ask for temporary alimony while the case is pending. Then, you present evidence supporting your request in a court hearing before the judge decides whether to order your spouse to pay alimony following the divorce.

What qualifies a spouse for alimony?

Most states establish specific factors determining what qualifies a spouse for alimony and what disqualifies you from alimony. Some states don’t consider fault-related factors, though many still do.

Understanding what disqualifies you from alimony requires understanding what does qualify you. Courts evaluate numerous factors to determine whether spousal support is just and equitable.

Factors unrelated to fault

Whether a judge should award alimony typically depends on each spouse’s:

Financial needs
Earning capacity, including education, training and relative skills
Age, physical health and mental health
Ability to provide for their needs now
Ability to pay
Contributions to the home and raising children
Contributions to the other spouse’s education and career development

Courts also particularly consider the length of the marriage, especially when marriages are long and involve career interruptions.

Many courts also consider the marital standard of living. In essence, the marital standard of living is the standard of living the parties enjoyed while they were married. For example, if your marital standard of living involved living in a large house and taking expensive vacations, those costs will be assessed in calculating your reasonable financial needs after divorce.

Why these factors matter: Courts use non-fault factors to understand the economic reality each spouse will face after divorce. If one spouse sacrificed career advancement, earned significantly less, or lacks marketable skills, alimony may be awarded to prevent financial hardship. The goal is not punishment, but fairness.

Fault-related factors

Among states that consider fault for the divorce related to alimony, courts may consider the following factors:

Domestic or family violence
Cheating or adultery
Other misconduct relating to the reasons for divorce

Other misconduct may include, for example:

Wasting significant money
Emotional abuse
Financial abuse

Pro-tip:

Financial and emotional abuse are often harder to prove and describe than physical abuse, but both play significant roles in divorce. If your spouse has victimized you using these less evident forms of abuse, you may have learned to accept less than you’re entitled to. Consider speaking with a lawyer before agreeing to surrender your rights during divorce, including the right to request alimony.

State variations in considering fault:

Not all states weigh fault equally. Some states ignore fault entirely in alimony decisions. Others treat fault as one factor among many, and a few make fault outcome-determinative. Because of this variation, identical facts can produce very different alimony outcomes depending on the state.

What disqualifies you from alimony?

Unlike many legal questions with clear yes-or-no answers, alimony disqualification rarely involves absolute rules. Courts balance multiple factors to determine whether alimony is justified.
That said, certain circumstances make alimony unlikely or impossible.

Income disqualification

You generally will not qualify for alimony if your income meets or exceeds your reasonable financial needs. The closest thing to an automatic disqualifier is earning significantly more than your spouse. Courts reason that support is unnecessary if you are already financially self-sufficient.

State-specific disqualifications

Some states impose statutory limits that can disqualify a spouse entirely, including:

- Adultery: Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina automatically disqualify unfaithful spouses from alimony
- Marriage length: Some states require a minimum marriage duration, often around ten years
- Other conduct: Certain states disqualify spouses who have committed abuse, crimes, or severe misconduct

Circumstantial disqualifications

Courts often disfavor alimony when circumstances suggest support is unnecessary or unjustified, such as when:

- Both spouses have similar earning capacity
- You are young, healthy, and employed
- You have marketable job skills
- You did not contribute significantly to your spouse’s education or career
- You can maintain a reasonable standard of living independently
- You abused or mistreated your spouse

How does cheating affect alimony?

How adultery affects alimony depends entirely on state law.
The bottom line: 19 states do not consider adultery at all. 31 states do consider it, but with very different consequences.

- States that ignore adultery (19): Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin
- States where adultery is one factor (22): Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming
- States where adultery matters only if it caused financial harm (4): Maryland, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon
- States that disqualify for adultery (3): Louisiana, Pennsylvania, South Carolina
- Exception: North Carolina requires courts to award alimony if the other spouse committed adultery.

Practical takeaway: In most states, cheating does not automatically disqualify you from alimony. In three states, it does. In nineteen states, it is legally irrelevant.

How does marriage length affect alimony?

Some states severely limit alimony for short marriages or only authorize alimony in marriages that last for a set period. For example:

California law limits the length of alimony to one-half the length of the marriage for couples married for less than ten years.
Florida law limits the length of alimony to a percentage of the length of the marriage, increasing once a couple has been married for 10 years and again at 20 years.
New York law limits the length of alimony to a percentage of the length of the marriage, increasing once a couple has been married for 15 years and again at 20 years.
Texas typically limits alimony to divorces that occur after the spouses have been married for ten years or longer.

So depending on the state, not being married long enough may disqualify you from alimony.

Balance of the factors

Apart from those special cases, whether you get alimony depends on a holistic evaluation of the unique circumstances in your relationship. You may be less likely to receive alimony if you:

Haven’t been married for very long
Have a similar income or earning capacity to your spouse
Are physically and mentally healthy
Are relatively young
Have education or career experience, even if you have been out of the workforce for a time
Haven’t contributed much to your spouse’s education or career development
Don’t need assistance to maintain your standard of living
Have abused or mistreated your spouse
Cheated on your spouse

What disqualifies you from alimony, then, in the absence of exceptional factors, is a court concluding the circumstances don’t justify it. In short, courts should award alimony only if it’s just and equitable to do so.

Voluntary or court-ordered awards of alimony

Whether alimony is awarded or disqualified depends on the interaction of many factors rather than any single issue. Income, earning capacity, marriage length, health, conduct, and post-divorce financial reality are all taken into account.

Most divorces do not end in a courtroom decision. Instead, alimony is often resolved through negotiation and settlement. In such cases, the outcome may reflect a compromise rather than a strict legal entitlement.

Moving forward: Should you seek legal representation?

Alimony determinations involve complex balancing and state-specific nuances. An attorney experienced in your state’s alimony laws can:

- Assess your likelihood of qualifying for or avoiding alimony
- Identify which factors carry the most weight in your case
- Help negotiate favorable alimony terms during settlement
- Represent you effectively if alimony becomes contested
- Ensure you understand your state’s specific disqualifications and limitations

Because most divorces settle outside of trial, informed legal guidance can significantly improve negotiation outcomes and reduce long-term risk.

Final thoughts

Understanding what disqualifies you from alimony is not a simple yes-or-no calculation. It is a fact-specific evaluation shaped by your state’s laws, your individual circumstances, and how courts in your jurisdiction apply “just and equitable” standards.
Only a few factors automatically disqualify you from alimony. Most cases require courts to weigh multiple considerations together. If one spouse faces genuine financial hardship and the other can pay, alimony may still be awarded even when some factors cut against it. Conversely, if both spouses can support themselves independently, courts are unlikely to order alimony regardless of other considerations.

State law matters enormously. What disqualifies a spouse from alimony in Louisiana may be irrelevant in California. Marriage length requirements, adultery rules, and statutory limits vary widely across state lines.

Due to these differences, informed representation is often the most effective protection. A local attorney understands how statutes, judges, and real-world outcomes intersect in your state and can evaluate your specific situation realistically.

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