When a marriage ends in divorce, the issue of spousal support (often called “alimony”) may arise. Although the terms spousal maintenance and alimony sound similar, they are two different things.

“Spousal maintenance” is court-ordered maintenance paid by one spouse to another for a set period of time. Obtaining spousal maintenance in Texas can be challenging because our law presumes that spousal maintenance is not needed. The spouse seeking maintenance must show the court that good-faith efforts have been made to become self-supporting. Spousal maintenance may be modified or even terminated early if circumstances change.

“Alimony” is only available in Texas by an agreement between spouses. Often, a spouse may agree to pay alimony to their spouse in order to equalize the division of property, help their spouse adjust after divorce, or help their spouse obtain education or training needed to support themselves after divorce. Alimony also has certain tax implications that spousal maintenance does not.