Maine Spousal Support (Alimony) Laws: How It Works (2026)

Maine uses the term "spousal support" rather than "alimony," but the concept is the same: a court-ordered payment from one former spouse to the other after a divorce or legal separation. If you are navigating a Maine divorce, understanding the five statutory types of spousal support, the marriage-length presumptions that frame most awards, and the 17 factors courts weigh can help you set realistic expectations.

Information last verified on June 1, 2026. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed attorney.

Estimate your situation: Try our free Maine alimony calculator to estimate spousal support and see the factors a Maine court weighs.

What Is Spousal Support in Maine?

Spousal support is a payment ordered by a Maine court from one spouse to the other during or after a divorce or judicial separation proceeding. The governing statute is 19-A M.R.S. § 951-A, which was substantially restructured in 2013 to create the current five-type framework.

Maine does not award spousal support automatically. The court must make a deliberate decision to award it, specify the type or types being ordered, describe the payment method and term, and state the factors it relied upon if the proceeding was contested. This requirement ensures that awards are reasoned and reviewable.

Unlike some states that tie spousal support to a fixed percentage of income or a formula based on marriage length, Maine gives courts wide discretion. Every award turns on the specific financial circumstances of the parties and the statutory factors.

The Five Types of Maine Spousal Support

Section 951-A(2) defines five distinct forms of spousal support. A court may award one type or a combination, depending on the parties' circumstances.

1. General Support

General support is the closest equivalent to what most people think of as traditional long-term alimony. Its purpose is to provide financial assistance to a spouse with substantially less income potential than the other spouse so that both spouses can maintain a reasonable standard of living after the divorce.

General support is subject to the marriage-length presumptions described in the next section. It is the type most commonly at issue in contested spousal support disputes.

2. Transitional Support

Transitional support addresses a spouse's shorter-term needs arising from the breakup of the marriage. Courts award it to cover two categories of need: short-term financial dislocations that result directly from the dissolution of the marriage, and the cost of reentering or advancing in the workforce. That second category can include physical or emotional rehabilitation services, vocational training, and education expenses.

Transitional support is inherently time-limited. Once the transition is complete, the need for this type of support typically ends.

3. Reimbursement Support

Reimbursement support is reserved for exceptional circumstances. A court may award it to reach an equitable result in the overall dissolution of the parties' financial relationship when the parties' financial circumstances do not permit the court to fully address equitable considerations through its property division order alone.

The statute identifies three specific circumstances that can justify reimbursement support: economic misconduct by a spouse, substantial contributions one spouse made toward the educational or occupational advancement of the other spouse during the marriage, and economic abuse. This type of support is relatively uncommon but can be significant when one spouse sacrificed career opportunities to support the other's advancement.

4. Nominal Support

Nominal support is awarded to preserve the court's authority to grant spousal support in the future. In practical terms, the court enters a nominal order (often as little as one dollar per year) to keep the case open. This allows the court to convert nominal support to a more substantial form if circumstances change and a real need develops later.

Without a nominal support provision, a court that enters no spousal support award at the time of divorce generally loses jurisdiction to award it later. Nominal support is a jurisdictional placeholder.

5. Interim Support

Interim support is available during the pendency of a divorce or judicial separation action, before the case is resolved. It is designed to prevent a financially dependent spouse from suffering hardship while the litigation proceeds. Once the divorce decree is entered, interim support ends and any ongoing award takes the form of one or more of the other types.

Marriage-Length Presumptions

One of the most practically important features of 19-A M.R.S. § 951-A is a set of rebuttable presumptions tied to the length of the marriage. These presumptions apply only to general support, not to the other four types.

Marriages of Less Than 10 Years

There is a rebuttable presumption that general support may not be awarded if the parties were married for less than 10 years as of the date the divorce complaint was filed. This does not make general support impossible in short marriages. It means the requesting spouse bears the burden of overcoming the presumption by demonstrating that an award is equitable despite the short marriage length. Courts may find the presumption rebutted when, for example, a shorter marriage produced a significant income disparity that cannot be addressed through property division alone.

Marriages of At Least 10 Years but Not More Than 20 Years

For marriages that lasted at least 10 years but not more than 20 years, there is a rebuttable presumption that general support may not be awarded for a term exceeding half the length of the marriage. A 14-year marriage, for instance, carries a presumptive cap of seven years of general support. As with the under-10-year presumption, a court can exceed this durational limit by making factual findings that a shorter term would be inequitable.

Marriages of More Than 20 Years

The statute does not impose a durational presumption for marriages that exceeded 20 years. In those cases, the court has broad discretion to award general support for whatever term it finds appropriate given the statutory factors. Long-term or even open-ended general support is more common in marriages of this length, particularly when one spouse has been out of the workforce for many years.

How Maine Courts Decide: Amount and Duration

Maine has no formula for calculating the dollar amount of spousal support. No statute or court rule ties the amount to a percentage of either party's income or to the length of the marriage. The amount is entirely discretionary.

Section 951-A(5) directs courts to consider the following factors when making spousal support decisions:

• The length of the marriage
• The ability of each party to pay
• The age of each party
• The employment history and employment potential of each party
• The income history and income potential of each party
• The education and training of each party
• The provisions for retirement and health insurance benefits of each party
• The tax consequences of the division of marital property, including any sale of the marital home
• The health and disabilities of each party
• The tax consequences of a spousal support award
• The contributions of either party as a homemaker
• The contributions of either party to the education or earning potential of the other party
• Economic misconduct by either party resulting in the diminution of marital property or income
• Economic abuse by a spouse
• The standard of living of the parties during the marriage
• The ability of the party seeking support to become self-supporting within a reasonable period of time
• The effect of actual or potential income from marital or nonmarital property awarded or set apart to each party, and child support

Courts may also consider any other factor they deem appropriate. The breadth of this list reflects Maine's commitment to individualized awards rather than mechanical calculation.

Because no formula exists, the outcome in any given case depends heavily on the persuasiveness of the evidence each party presents on these factors. An experienced Maine family law attorney can help identify which factors carry the most weight on the specific facts of a case.

When Spousal Support Ends or Changes

Death

Unless the spousal support order expressly states otherwise, the obligation to make payments ceases on the death of either the payee (the spouse receiving support) or the payor (the spouse paying support), with respect to any payment not yet due and owing as of the date of death. Parties can agree, or a court can order, that the obligation survive the payor's death and be funded through the estate or life insurance, but that requires an express provision.

Remarriage

Courts may impose a limit on the payment of spousal support tied to the remarriage of the payee. Remarriage is a common basis for terminating or modifying an award, reflecting the view that a new marriage creates a new financial relationship that changes the recipient's need for support.

Cohabitation

Spousal support may be modified or terminated when the payee and another person have entered into a mutually supportive relationship that is the functional equivalent of marriage. Maine law does not impose a specific statutory cohabitation threshold. Section 951-A(3)(E) permits a court to include, as a term of the support order, a limit on payment tied to cohabitation by the payee. Whether cohabitation triggers a modification or termination therefore depends on the language of the individual order rather than a mandatory statutory rule.

Modification

Whether a spousal support order can be modified depends on when it was issued.

Orders issued before October 1, 2013 are modifiable "when it appears that justice requires" unless the order expressly states that it is not subject to modification.

Orders issued on or after October 1, 2013 require the party seeking modification to show a substantial change in financial circumstances and that justice requires modification. The higher threshold for post-2013 orders reflects a legislative intent to bring greater stability to support arrangements.

Is Maine Spousal Support Taxable?

The federal tax treatment of spousal support changed significantly on January 1, 2019, as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

For divorce or separation agreements executed after December 31, 2018, spousal support payments are not deductible by the paying spouse and are not included in the receiving spouse's gross income for federal income tax purposes. This is the rule that applies to the vast majority of divorces in Maine today.

For agreements executed on or before December 31, 2018 that have not been modified to adopt the new rules, the prior federal rules still apply: payments were deductible by the payer and taxable to the recipient.

If a pre-2019 agreement is later modified, and the modification expressly states that the post-2018 rules apply, the new treatment takes effect from that modification forward.

Consult a qualified tax professional for guidance on how these rules apply to your specific situation. The IRS addresses this in IRS Topic No. 452 and Publication 504.

How Spousal Support Differs from Maine Child Support

Spousal support and child support are separate legal obligations and are handled differently under Maine law.

Maine child support is calculated under the Maine Child Support Guidelines, which use both parents' gross incomes and certain expenses to produce a presumptive amount. Spousal support has no equivalent formula.

Key differences:

• Who benefits. Spousal support benefits the recipient spouse. Child support benefits the children.
• How the amount is set. Spousal support is entirely discretionary based on 17+ statutory factors. Child support follows a guideline formula.
• When it ends. Spousal support ends on death, remarriage, qualifying cohabitation, expiration of the award term, or court modification. Child support generally continues until each child reaches the age of majority.
• Tax treatment. Post-2018 spousal support has no federal income tax effect on either party. Child support has never been deductible or taxable under federal law.

Both obligations may be addressed in the same divorce proceeding but are calculated and documented separately.

Alimony Laws Across All States

For a side-by-side overview of how spousal support and alimony work in every state, see our Alimony Laws by State guide.

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This page provides general legal information only and is not legal advice. Maine spousal support law is highly fact-specific and involves significant judicial discretion. Consult a licensed Maine family law attorney for guidance on your particular situation.

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Sources

• 19-A M.R.S. § 951-A (Spousal Support), Maine Legislature, legislature.maine.gov/statutes/19-A/title19-Asec951-A.html
• Spousal Support, Maine Judicial Branch, courts.maine.gov/courts/family/spousal-support.html
• IRS Topic No. 452, Alimony and Separate Maintenance, irs.gov/taxtopics/tc452
• IRS Publication 504 (2025), Divorced or Separated Individuals, irs.gov/publications/p504
• 19-A M.R.S. § 951 (Spousal Support, Pending Proceedings), Maine Legislature, legislature.maine.gov/statutes/19-A/title19-Asec951.html

Last updated: June 1, 2026.