Virginia Divorce Overview
The full picture: grounds for divorce, fault versus no-fault, the divorce process, and how Virginia divorce law fits together.
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Virginia Spousal Support and Alimony Lawyers
Whether you may have to pay support or need it to move forward, the numbers shape the rest of your life. Jacob and Drew help Metro Richmond clients understand where they stand under Virginia spousal support law and build a case around the factors that actually decide it.
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What spousal support and alimony actually mean
Alimony and spousal support are the same thing. Virginia law simply uses the term spousal support.
The word alimony is what most people say, and it is what you will hear in movies and conversation. In a Virginia courtroom, the legal term is spousal support or spousal maintenance. Both describe payments that one spouse makes to help support the other during or after a divorce. The meaning of alimony, at its core, is straightforward: when a marriage ends, one person may need financial help to stand on their own, and the law provides a way to address that gap.
What surprises many people is that spousal support is not automatic. There is no rule in Virginia that says one spouse always pays the other. A court awards support only after weighing a specific set of factors set out in the Code of Virginia, and in plenty of cases the answer is that neither spouse owes the other anything. Understanding how those factors apply to your situation is the difference between guessing and knowing where you stand.
This page walks through the kinds of spousal support Virginia recognizes, how courts decide whether to award it and how much, how fault such as adultery fits in, and when support can later be changed or ended. If you would rather talk it through with someone who does this every day, request a callback and we will reach out within one business day.
The forms it can take
The kinds of spousal support in Virginia
Spousal support is not one-size-fits-all. Under Virginia Code section 20-107.1, a court can order support in periodic payments for a defined duration, in periodic payments for an undefined duration, as a lump sum, or in any combination of those. Which form fits depends on the marriage and the finances involved.
Temporary support while the case is pending (pendente lite)
A divorce can take months. Pendente lite support, sometimes called temporary support, keeps a lower-earning spouse afloat while the case works through the court. For couples whose combined monthly gross income is $10,000 or less, Virginia uses a presumptive formula based on each spouse's gross income to set this temporary amount, and the court can deviate from it for good cause. This temporary award does not decide what final support will look like.
Support for a defined duration
Here the court orders payments for a set period, for example a fixed number of years. This is often used to give a spouse time to finish a degree, retrain, or re-enter the workforce after time away. It is sometimes described as rehabilitative support because it is aimed at helping someone become self-supporting.
Support for an undefined duration
Undefined-duration support has no set end date. It is more common after a long marriage, or where age, health, or a long absence from work makes it unrealistic for one spouse to ever become fully self-supporting. Undefined does not mean permanent and untouchable. It still ends on remarriage, qualifying cohabitation, or death, and it can be modified if circumstances change.
Lump sum support
Instead of monthly payments, a court can order a single lump sum, or fold support into how property is divided. A lump sum gives both people a clean break with no ongoing financial tie, which some clients strongly prefer.
A reservation of support
Sometimes no support is ordered now, but the court reserves one spouse's right to ask for it later if things change. Virginia law even attaches a rebuttable presumption that a reservation lasts for a period equal to half the length of the marriage, measured from the wedding to the date of separation. Reserving the right protects a spouse whose circumstances might shift after the divorce is final.
How the decision is made
How Virginia courts determine spousal support
For final spousal support, Virginia does not use a fixed formula the way it does for temporary support or for child support. Instead, a judge weighs a list of factors set out in Virginia Code section 20-107.1 and reaches a decision that fits the specific marriage. That is why two couples with similar incomes can end up with very different results, and why how your situation is presented matters so much.
The statute directs the court to consider all of the following:
- The obligations, needs, and financial resources of each spouse, including income from pensions, profit sharing, and retirement plans.
- The standard of living established during the marriage.
- The duration of the marriage.
- The age and the physical and mental condition of each spouse, and any special circumstances of the family.
- Whether it is appropriate for a parent to stay out of the workforce because of the children, and for how long.
- The monetary and nonmonetary contributions each spouse made to the family's well-being, including raising children and running the household.
- The property interests of each spouse, both real and personal.
- How the marital property was divided under Virginia's equitable distribution rules.
- The earning capacity of each spouse, including skills, education, training, and current job market.
- The opportunity and ability to acquire education or training needed to increase earning power.
- Decisions made during the marriage about employment, careers, and education, and how those choices affected present and future earnings.
- Each spouse's contribution to the other's education, training, career, or earning ability.
- Any other factors, including the tax consequences to each spouse and the circumstances that led to the divorce.
Notice that fault is on that list. Because a court can weigh the circumstances that contributed to the end of the marriage, conduct like adultery, cruelty, or desertion can influence a support award. The most important takeaway is that no single factor controls. A short marriage between two earners looks nothing like a twenty-year marriage where one spouse gave up a career, and the statute is built to let a judge see that difference.
For the paying spouse
Do I have to pay alimony in Virginia?
This is the question we hear most, usually from the higher-earning spouse, and the honest answer is: maybe, and not always. There is no automatic obligation to pay spousal support in Virginia. Whether you would owe anything depends on the same factors above, and above all on whether there is a real gap between what each of you can earn and what each of you needs.
A few things are worth understanding early if you are the one who might be asked to pay.
- Support is about need and ability, not punishment. If your spouse can reasonably support themselves at a level in keeping with the marriage, a court may order little or no support, regardless of the size of your income.
- Adultery can bar your spouse from receiving permanent support. If you can prove your spouse committed adultery, they are generally barred from permanent spousal support, subject to a narrow exception discussed below.
- Temporary support is set differently from final support. While the case is pending, the presumptive formula for lower-income couples can produce a number quickly. That temporary figure is not the same as your final obligation, which is decided under the full list of factors.
- An agreement can give you certainty. Many spousal support outcomes are negotiated rather than decided by a judge. A well-drafted agreement lets you control the amount and duration, and can even waive support entirely, rather than leaving it to the court.
The worst approach is to assume the number in your head is correct and plan around it. A short conversation about your actual income, your spouse's earning capacity, and the length of your marriage will tell you far more than any online estimate. If custody and child support are also part of your case, our Virginia child support calculator can help you see how those numbers fit alongside spousal support.
When things change
Changing or ending spousal support
A support order is not always the final word. Virginia Code section 20-109 sets out when spousal support ends on its own and when it can be revisited. Whether an order can be changed depends heavily on whether the support was set by the court or locked in by a binding agreement, which is one more reason the terms matter so much when they are first written.
Remarriage
When the spouse receiving support remarries, support generally terminates. The person receiving support has a duty to notify the paying spouse of the remarriage, and payments made after the remarriage may have to be paid back.
Cohabitation in a relationship like marriage
If the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the spouse receiving support has been habitually cohabiting with another person in a relationship analogous to marriage for one year or more, it will terminate support, unless the parties agreed otherwise or the recipient shows that ending it would be unconscionable.
Death of either spouse
Spousal support ordinarily ends when either the paying or the receiving spouse dies, unless an agreement specifically provides otherwise.
A material change in circumstances
Court-ordered support can be modified when there is a material change in circumstances, such as a serious change in income, a job loss, or a health event. Reaching full retirement age, as defined under Social Security, is treated as a material change the court must consider, though it does not guarantee a reduction. Support that was set by a binding contract rather than by the court can be much harder, or impossible, to modify, so it is important to understand which kind you have.
Keep reading
Related divorce topics
Spousal support rarely stands alone. These resources cover the pieces that usually come with it.
Who handles your case
Two partners and a dedicated team.
Jacob and Drew personally lead every matter alongside their paralegal. The people you meet are the people building your support case, not a name on the door.
Jacob E. Smith
Managing Partner
With over fourteen years of family law experience, focused on protecting clients' finances and futures through carefully built support cases.
Full bio
Drew Ashcraft
Partner
Licensed in Virginia since 2022, Drew brings a steady, detail-driven approach to support disputes, making sure the numbers and the record tell your story accurately.
Full bio Common questions
Spousal support and alimony, answered.
Alimony means payments one spouse makes to help support the other during or after a divorce. In Virginia the legal term is spousal support or spousal maintenance rather than alimony, but they mean the same thing.
Its purpose is to address a financial gap between spouses, not to reward or punish either person. Support can be temporary while the case is pending or part of the final divorce, and it is not automatic in any Virginia case.
Not automatically. There is no rule in Virginia that one spouse always pays the other. A court awards spousal support only after weighing the factors in Virginia Code section 20-107.1, including each spouse's income and resources, the standard of living during the marriage, the length of the marriage, and the contributions each person made.
If both spouses can reasonably support themselves, a court may order no support at all. Whether you would owe support, and roughly how much, depends on the specifics of your finances and marriage.
For final spousal support, Virginia does not use a fixed formula. The court weighs thirteen statutory factors under Code section 20-107.1, such as the parties' needs and resources, the marriage's duration, the standard of living, age and health, and each spouse's earning capacity.
Temporary support during the case is different. For couples whose combined monthly gross income is $10,000 or less, Virginia uses a presumptive formula based on each spouse's gross income, and the court can deviate for good cause.
It depends on the award. A Virginia court can order support for a defined duration, for an undefined duration, as a lump sum, or a combination. Shorter or rehabilitative support is common after shorter marriages, while longer or undefined support is more likely after a long marriage where one spouse is unlikely to become fully self-supporting.
Support for an undefined duration still ends on remarriage, qualifying cohabitation, or death, and it can be modified if circumstances change.
Often, yes. Under Virginia Code section 20-109, support generally ends when the person receiving it remarries, when either party dies, or when the court finds the recipient has been cohabiting in a relationship analogous to marriage for a year or more, unless an agreement says otherwise or ending it would be unconscionable.
Support can also be modified when there is a material change in circumstances, and reaching full retirement age is treated as one such change. Support set by a binding contract may be harder to modify than support ordered by the court.
It can. Under Virginia Code section 20-107.1, a spouse proven to have committed adultery is generally barred from receiving permanent spousal support. There is a narrow exception: a court can still award support if it finds by clear and convincing evidence that denying it would be a manifest injustice, weighing the relative fault of both spouses and their economic circumstances.
Fault is one of several things a court can consider, so how much it matters depends on the full picture of the case.
Tell us about your situation.
Whether you may have to pay support, need it to move forward, or want to change an existing order, the more you share, the more useful our callback will be. Everything you tell us is confidential. We'll reach out within one business day.
If your matter is urgent or you're in immediate danger, please call 911 first.
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