Understanding and Calculating Alimony in Virginia

The purpose of alimony (also called "spousal support" or "maintenance") is to provide some financial assistance for a spouse who needs it during and after the divorce process. 

Divorcing spouses can agree on the amount and duration of payments in their divorce settlement agreement. If they can’t agree, however, a judge will award support based on certain statutory factors, primarily the needs and economic circumstances of both spouses.

What Factors Do Virginia Judges Consider When Determining Alimony?

In determining whether to award support, a judge can consider the circumstances and factors that contributed to the end of the marriage. Specifically, a spouse who committed adultery, cruelty, or abuse typically can't get support, unless withholding support would be unjust. A judge will look at both spouses’ respective degree of fault and their economic circumstances.

To determine how much support to award and for how long, a judge must consider the following factors: 

• the obligations, needs, and financial resources of the spouses, including income from pension, profit-sharing, or retirement plans
• the couple’s standard of living during the marriage
• the duration of the marriage
• the age, physical and mental condition of the parties, and any special circumstances of the family
• the extent to which the age or the physical or mental condition of any child makes it appropriate that a spouse not seek employment outside of the home
• the contributions, monetary and nonmonetary, of each spouse to the well-being of the family
• the property interests of the parties, both real and personal, tangible and intangible
• how the marital property has been divided
• each spouse’s earning capacity, including skills, education, and training
• the opportunity for and ability of a spouse to acquire the appropriate education, training, and employment to enhance earning ability
• the decisions regarding employment, career, economics, education, and parenting arrangements made during the marriage and their effect on present and future earning potential
• the extent to which either spouse contributed to the attainment of education, training, career position, or profession of the other, and
• any other factors, including the tax consequences, that should be considered to make sure the award is equitable.

A judge can order temporary or ongoing support in a lump sum or in periodic payments. A spouse can ask the court to reserve their right to receive support in the future rather than seeking it right away, though this reservation is capped at half the length of the marriage. So a spouse from a 10-year marriage could reserve the right to request support for up to five years. And for reservations made on or after July 1, 2020, the spouse must generally show a material change in circumstances before the court will actually award support under a reserved right.

(Va. Code §§ 20-91, 20-107.1 (2026).) 

How to Modify or Terminate Alimony in Virginia

Either spouse can ask the court to increase, decrease, or terminate spousal support payments if there has been a material change in their circumstances. Usually, a material change has to do with a change in finances (the loss of a job, for example). The court decides whether to change the terms of support based on the same set of factors used to set the amount and duration of support in the first place. For example, when the paying spouse reaches full Social Security retirement age, that counts as a material change in circumstances, and the court will consider factors such as whether the retirement was voluntary or mandatory, the parties' age and health, and how long support has already been paid. 

Spousal support automatically terminates if either spouse dies or if the recipient spouse remarries. The recipient spouse has a duty to inform the paying spouse of the remarriage.

The paying spouse may also ask the court to terminate payments if the recipient spouse has been living with a significant other for one year. Under these circumstances, the court will terminate payments unless the recipient spouse proves by a preponderance of the evidence that termination would be unconscionable.

 (Va. Code § 20-109 (2026).)

How Is Alimony Taxed?

Federal tax treatment of spousal support depends on when the divorce or separation agreement was signed. For agreements on or before December 31, 2018, the paying spouse can generally deduct support payments, and the receiving spouse must report them as taxable income. For agreements executed after December 31, 2018, support payments are not tax-deductible by the paying spouse and are not taxable income to the recipient spouse. Virginia follows the federal rules for income tax purposes.

Learn more about alimony and tax rules.