Am I Entitled to Spousal Support or Alimony?

How Spousal Support and Alimony Are Decided

Spousal support (called alimony or maintenance in the United States) is money paid by the higher-earning spouse to the lower-earning spouse after a marriage or long-term relationship ends. The analysis always runs in the same order: first entitlement (is support owed at all?), then quantum (how much?), then duration (for how long?). In Canada, entitlement rests on three grounds recognized by the Divorce Act and the Supreme Court's Bracklow and Moge decisions — compensatory (redressing career sacrifice), non-compensatory or needs-based (cushioning a standard-of-living drop), and contractual (a promise in an agreement).

In the United States, alimony is governed state by state, but most states weigh a common set of factors: the length of the marriage, the income and earning-capacity disparity between the spouses, the recipient's need, the payor's ability to pay, contributions to the household and to the other spouse's career, and each spouse's age and health. Roughly half the states have adopted some version of the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements framework or formula-based guidelines, while others leave amount and duration largely to judicial discretion.

The SSAG Formulas and US Alimony Types

Canada's Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAG) are not law, but courts across the country use them as the default reference. They contain two formulas. The 'without child support' formula sets the monthly range at about 1.5% to 2% of the income difference per year of marriage (capped at 50%), and duration at roughly 0.5 to 1 year per year of marriage — with support becoming indefinite for marriages of 20+ years or where the years married plus the recipient's age total 65 or more (the 'rule of 65'). The 'with child support' formula is more complex: it works from net disposable incomes after child support is paid.

US alimony comes in recognizable types. Temporary (pendente lite) support is paid while the divorce is pending. Rehabilitative alimony funds education or retraining so the recipient can become self-supporting over a defined period. Durational or limited-term alimony lasts a set number of years, often tied to the length of the marriage. Permanent alimony — now rare and abolished or restricted in states like Florida, Texas, and Massachusetts — is generally reserved for long marriages where a spouse cannot realistically become self-sufficient because of age or health.

Amount, Duration, and When Support Changes

Two numbers drive almost every support outcome: the gap between the spouses' incomes and the length of the relationship. A large income disparity in a long marriage produces the highest and longest support; similar incomes after a short marriage often produce little or none. Both countries can impute income to a spouse who is intentionally under-employed, and both look past base salary to bonuses, self-employment draws, and corporate income. Where children live primarily with the recipient, child support is calculated first and the with-child spousal formula follows.

Support is rarely permanent in the literal sense. Orders can be time-limited, reviewable, or subject to variation when circumstances change materially — a job loss, a serious illness, the payor's retirement, or the recipient's remarriage or cohabitation. Tax treatment also differs by country and over time: in the US, alimony under agreements signed after December 31, 2018 is no longer deductible to the payor or taxable to the recipient, whereas periodic spousal support in Canada generally remains deductible to the payor and taxable to the recipient. These differences make it worth modelling the after-tax result, not just the headline figure.

Related: Family Law Wizards · Property Division Assessment · Should We Create a Separation Agreement? · Financial Disclosure Readiness · All Legal Wizards · AI for Family Law Firms