How Does Alimony Work in Missouri: Types, Taxes, and Enforcement

In Missouri, alimony is called maintenance, and there is no formula for it. A judge decides whether a spouse qualifies, how much to pay, and how long payments last, using a two-part eligibility test and a list of statutory factors. Understanding how alimony works in Missouri starts with those two gates, because a spouse who does not clear them will not be awarded maintenance at all.¹

Who Qualifies for Maintenance

Before a court considers an award, the spouse asking for maintenance has to satisfy two conditions. Both must be met.

The first is a property test. The court looks at whether the requesting spouse lacks enough property, including whatever share of the marital estate they were awarded in the divorce, to provide for their reasonable needs. If that spouse walked away with assets that generate income or can be liquidated to support them, the analysis can stop there.¹

The second is an employment test. The court must find that the spouse cannot support themselves through appropriate employment. That can mean a lack of job skills or education, years out of the workforce, or being the primary caretaker of a child whose circumstances make outside work impractical. A spouse with minimal property but strong earning potential may not qualify, and neither will one who earns little but received substantial assets in the property division.¹

How Judges Decide the Amount and Duration

Once eligibility is established, the court moves to how much and for how long. The statute lists ten factors, and no single one controls the outcome. Judges weigh them together.¹

The financial resources of the spouse seeking maintenance, including marital property awarded to them and their ability to meet their own needs.
The time it would take that spouse to acquire enough education or training to find suitable work.
Each spouse’s earning capacity relative to the other.
The standard of living established during the marriage, used as a reference point rather than a guarantee.
Each spouse’s total obligations and assets, marital and separate.
The length of the marriage. A 25-year marriage where one spouse stayed home reads very differently than a three-year marriage between two professionals.
The age and physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking maintenance.
Whether the paying spouse can meet their own needs while paying maintenance.
The conduct of each spouse during the marriage, including adultery or financial misconduct such as hiding assets.
Any other relevant circumstances the court finds appropriate.

Types of Maintenance Orders

Temporary Maintenance

Either spouse can ask for temporary maintenance while the divorce is pending. The court can enter it after reviewing a sworn statement of the requesting spouse’s financial situation, and it ends when the final decree is entered.²

Rehabilitative Maintenance

This is the most common form in final divorce orders. It runs for a set period, giving the recipient time to gain education, training, or work experience. A court might award two or three years to a spouse finishing a degree or returning to a profession they left. The order carries a specific end date, and unless labeled non-modifiable, it can be extended if circumstances change before that date.¹

Permanent Maintenance

When self-sufficiency is unrealistic, the court may award maintenance with no end date. This typically follows long marriages or applies when a spouse’s age, disability, or chronic health condition prevents meaningful employment. Even these awards can be modified or terminated by the events discussed below.

Taxes on Missouri Maintenance

For any divorce finalized after December 31, 2018, federal tax treatment is simple: the paying spouse gets no deduction, and the receiving spouse does not report payments as income. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanently repealed the old alimony deduction.³

Pre-2019 agreements still follow the old rules unless a later modification specifically states that the repeal of the alimony deduction applies. If your divorce was finalized before 2019 and has never been modified with that language, the old tax treatment continues to govern the payments.³

When Maintenance Can Change or End

Every Missouri maintenance order must state whether it is modifiable or non-modifiable. If it is modifiable, either spouse can ask the court to change it, but the bar is high. The requesting party must show a substantial and continuing change of circumstances that makes the current terms unreasonable. Job loss through no fault of the payer, a serious illness, or a dramatic income shift can meet that standard. A modest raise or a temporary setback generally will not.⁴

Some events end maintenance on their own. Unless the divorce agreement says otherwise in writing, maintenance stops when either spouse dies or when the receiving spouse remarries. No court filing is required; the obligation simply ceases.⁴

Cohabitation is different. It does not automatically end maintenance the way remarriage does. The court treats it as a factor in the modification analysis, considering the extent to which a cohabiting partner shares the recipient’s living expenses. A paying spouse who wants to reduce or end maintenance on this basis must file a motion and prove the arrangement has meaningfully changed the recipient’s financial picture.⁴

Enforcement When Payments Stop

Missouri law requires income withholding for all maintenance orders. When a court enters or modifies an order, withholding takes effect automatically on the effective date. The payer’s employer deducts the maintenance amount from wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, retirement payments, and most other forms of periodic income before the money reaches the payer.⁵

If a payer falls behind despite withholding, or if withholding is not feasible because the payer is self-employed or between jobs, the recipient can ask the court to hold the payer in contempt. A contempt finding can bring fines or jail time until the payer complies.

What Bankruptcy Does Not Do

Filing for bankruptcy does not wipe out a maintenance obligation. Federal law classifies maintenance as a domestic support obligation, and those are specifically excluded from discharge in both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 proceedings. Back payments that accrued before the bankruptcy filing are treated as a priority debt, paid ahead of credit card balances and other unsecured obligations. If a former spouse files for bankruptcy, the maintenance award survives.⁶

1
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 452.335 – Maintenance Order, Findings Required For
2
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 452.315 – Temporary Maintenance or Support
3
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 452, Alimony and Separate Maintenance
4
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 452.370 – Modification of Judgment as to Maintenance or Support
5
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Missouri Code 452.350 – Withholding of Income
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge