Spousal Support in Texas

Eligibility: the strict two-part test

A Texas court can order maintenance only after two findings. First, the requesting spouse must lack enough property to meet minimum reasonable needs. Second, at least one more statutory condition must be met. That condition can be a qualifying family-violence conviction or deferred adjudication. It can be an incapacitating disability of the requesting spouse. It can be a marriage of 10 years or more, combined with an inability to earn enough income. Or it can be care of a disabled child of the marriage. Outside these categories, Texas law generally does not allow a maintenance award at all.

Duration limits tied to marriage length

Texas law caps how long maintenance can run. The cap generally scales with the length of the marriage. Marriages in the shorter 10-to-20-year range are capped at fewer years of maintenance than marriages of 20 to 30 years. The longest marriages, 30 years or more, fall into the longest duration category.

The family-violence eligibility path carries its own duration cap, regardless of marriage length. Where eligibility rests on a spouse's or child's disability, maintenance can continue for as long as the disability lasts, subject to periodic review. Confirm the specific year-cap for your marriage-length bracket directly against the current Family Code text, since exact figures can change. Texas generally treats maintenance as a narrower, shorter-term bridge than some states' longer-running alimony, matching its strict eligibility test.

The monthly dollar cap

Texas also caps the amount of maintenance. A court generally cannot order more than the lesser of two figures. The first is a fixed dollar amount per month. The second is 20% of the paying spouse's average monthly gross income. The legislature sets this fixed figure, and it can change over time. Confirm the current dollar cap against the live statute, rather than trusting a number from any secondary source, including this page.

Termination and modification

Texas maintenance generally ends on the death of either party, or the remarriage of the receiving spouse. It can also be reduced or ended for another reason. If the paying spouse proves the receiving spouse is cohabiting with someone else in a dating or romantic relationship, the court can act on that too. An existing order can be modified based on a material and substantial change in circumstances. Confirm the current procedural standard with the Texas statute, or a family law self-help resource, before filing a motion.

Where Texas maintenance cases are filed

Divorce cases in Texas, including any request for spousal maintenance, are filed in district court. That filing happens in the county where one spouse has met Texas's residency requirements. Maintenance requests are typically part of the same divorce filing as property division and, where children are involved, custody and child support. They are not a separate proceeding. The district clerk's office in the relevant county can confirm current local filing procedures and forms.