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Most Texas divorces end without a judge ordering one spouse to keep paying the other. Court-ordered spousal maintenance exists, but Texas law treats it as the exception, not the routine outcome many people expect from a long marriage. Qualifying takes a two-part test: a real shortfall in property and income, plus one of a short list of specific grounds.
This guide walks through who meets that test, who does not, how much a court can order, how long it can last, and the agreed alternative, contractual alimony, that many Texas couples use instead.
Texas Family Code Chapter 8 uses the word "maintenance" for court-ordered post-divorce support, and the law is built around disfavoring it. Where some states treat ongoing spousal support as a routine element of a long marriage, a Texas court can only order it when a spouse clears a specific statutory test. Most couples who want ongoing support after divorce arrange it themselves through an agreement instead, which Texas calls contractual alimony and treats very differently from court-ordered maintenance.
That distinction matters early, because the two paths lead to different results: maintenance is capped by law and reviewed by a judge against strict eligibility grounds, while contractual alimony is whatever the spouses agree to, enforced as a contract rather than under the Family Code.
A Texas court can only order maintenance if the spouse asking for it meets both parts of a two-part test set out in the maintenance statute.
Once the minimum reasonable needs step is met, the second half of the test is satisfied by one of these four grounds.
| Ground | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Family violence | The other spouse was convicted of, or received deferred adjudication for, a family-violence offense against the spouse or the spouse's child. |
| Physical or mental disability | The spouse seeking maintenance is unable to earn sufficient income because of an incapacitating physical or mental disability. |
| 10-year-or-longer marriage | The spouses were married 10 years or longer and the spouse seeking maintenance lacks the ability to earn sufficient income to meet minimum reasonable needs. |
| Ongoing care of a disabled child | The spouse is responsible for the day-to-day care of a child of any age who needs substantial, ongoing supervision because of a disability, in a way that prevents the spouse from earning sufficient income. |
The 10-year ground is the one most people have heard of, but it is often misunderstood: a decade of marriage opens the door to the ground, it does not by itself prove the spouse cannot earn enough to meet minimum reasonable needs. Both halves of the test still have to be shown.
When both test parts line up
When one or both test parts are missing
The table and comparison above cover the most common patterns, but the underlying rule is simple: Texas maintenance is not a consolation prize for a hard divorce or a way to equalize two different incomes on its own. Without a qualifying ground, a spouse's only realistic path to ongoing support is an agreement with the other spouse.
Even when a spouse qualifies, the amount a Texas court can order is capped. Court-ordered maintenance cannot require the paying spouse to pay more per month than the lesser of $5,000 or 20 percent of that spouse's average monthly gross income, whichever number is smaller. That means a lower-earning paying spouse is capped by the percentage figure, while a high-earning paying spouse (earning roughly $25,000 or more a month) is capped by the flat $5,000 ceiling instead.
The income used for that 20 percent calculation is defined broadly, but the law excludes some items from it, such as return of capital, certain public assistance payments, VA service-connected disability compensation, Supplemental Security Income, and workers' compensation. A spouse's gross income for maintenance purposes is not always the same number used elsewhere in the case.
Duration is capped by marriage length, and a court must limit the order to the shortest period that is reasonable given the facts. The bands below cover most qualifying cases; indefinite maintenance is reserved for the disability and disabled-child-care grounds.
Outside those bands, a court can order maintenance for as long as the qualifying disability or the child's need for care continues, on the disability and disabled-child-care grounds. A court is not required to award the maximum period in any band; it is required to use the shortest one that fits the facts.
Spouses who do not meet the maintenance eligibility test, or who simply want a different arrangement than the statute allows, can agree to contractual alimony instead. Because it comes from the spouses' own agreement rather than a judge's order, it is not bound by the maintenance amount cap, the duration bands, or the four qualifying grounds described above.
The tradeoff is enforcement. Contractual alimony is not enforced under the Family Code the way court-ordered maintenance is; if a spouse stops paying, the other spouse's remedy is a breach-of-contract claim, not the enforcement tools built for a maintenance order. For couples working out an amicable, agreed divorce, contractual alimony is often the more flexible tool, but it is worth understanding that difference before relying on it.
No. Texas courts disfavor court-ordered support and award it only in narrow circumstances. A spouse must first show a lack of sufficient property to meet minimum reasonable needs, then also meet one of a short list of specific grounds such as a 10-year-or-longer marriage, a disability, or family violence.
Marriage length alone is not enough. A marriage of 10 years or longer is one qualifying ground, but the spouse seeking maintenance must also lack sufficient property to provide for minimum reasonable needs and lack the ability to earn enough income on their own.
Court-ordered maintenance cannot exceed the lesser of a set monthly dollar cap or 20 percent of the paying spouse's average monthly gross income, whichever amount is smaller. Certain income, such as public assistance and VA disability compensation, is excluded from that calculation.
Duration is capped by how long the couple was married, generally in bands of 5, 7, or 10 years, and a court must limit the order to the shortest reasonable period. Indefinite maintenance is available only when the qualifying ground is disability or ongoing care for a disabled child.
Spousal maintenance is ordered by a judge under the Family Code and is subject to the statutory caps. Contractual alimony is support the spouses agree to themselves; it is enforced as a contract, not under the Family Code, and is not bound by the maintenance caps or duration bands.
Yes. Because contractual alimony comes from the spouses' own agreement rather than a judge's order under Chapter 8, spouses who do not meet the eligibility grounds for court-ordered maintenance can still agree to post-divorce support and have it written into the decree as a contract term.
Tex. Fam. Code §§ 8.051 (eligibility), 8.054 (duration), and 8.055 (amount) (statutes.capitol.texas.gov).
TexasLawHelp, "Spousal Maintenance and Alimony", on the distinction between court-ordered maintenance and agreed contractual alimony.