South Carolina Alimony Laws: Types, Duration, and Modification

South Carolina alimony laws let a family court award spousal support in any divorce or separate maintenance action, but no spouse is automatically entitled to it. A judge decides whether one spouse genuinely needs support and whether the other can afford to pay, applying thirteen factors set out in Section 20-3-130 of the South Carolina Code.¹ The length of the marriage, each spouse’s earning capacity, and any marital misconduct do most of the work in shaping the outcome.

Who Can Receive Alimony and How Judges Decide

South Carolina law requires a judge to weigh thirteen factors before awarding alimony and setting the amount. No single factor controls, and the court gives each one whatever weight the circumstances deserve. The considerations that tend to matter most include:

The length of the marriage and the ages of both spouses. Long marriages produce alimony awards far more often than short ones.
Each spouse’s physical and emotional health, including chronic illness or disability that limits earning capacity.
Education and whether either spouse needs further training to reach their earning potential.
Employment history and earning potential, including time a spouse spent out of the workforce raising children or managing the household.
The standard of living established during the marriage.
Current and anticipated earnings and expenses for each spouse.
Marital and nonmarital property each spouse keeps after the property division.
Child custody responsibilities that limit a parent’s ability to work full-time.
Marital misconduct, particularly conduct that affected the couple’s finances or caused the breakup.
The tax consequences of the specific type of alimony ordered.
Prior support obligations from an earlier marriage.

The statute also contains a catch-all letting the judge consider any other factor they find relevant.¹ In practice, marriage length and each spouse’s earning capacity drive most outcomes.

When Adultery Bars Alimony

South Carolina applies a hard rule to adultery. A spouse who commits adultery is completely barred from receiving alimony, with no judicial discretion to soften the result. The bar applies if the adultery occurred before the earlier of two events: the formal signing of a written property or marital settlement agreement, or the entry of a permanent order of separate maintenance and support.¹ Adultery that happens after either milestone does not trigger the bar.

Other misconduct is treated differently. Physical abuse, substance abuse, or reckless spending of marital assets does not automatically disqualify a spouse from receiving alimony. The judge weighs that conduct as one factor among the thirteen, focusing on how it affected the couple’s finances or caused the marriage to fail. The spouse making the allegation has to prove it through testimony, financial records, or other documentation.

The Four Types of Alimony in South Carolina

South Carolina recognizes four forms of permanent alimony, plus temporary support while the divorce is pending. Courts match the type to the situation and can combine forms when it fits.

Periodic Alimony

Periodic alimony is the most common form. The paying spouse makes recurring payments, usually monthly, with no fixed end date. It continues until the recipient remarries, cohabitates with a romantic partner for at least ninety consecutive days, or either spouse dies.¹ Courts typically award it in longer marriages where one spouse was financially dependent for years and has limited ability to become self-supporting.

Because periodic alimony is modifiable, either spouse can later ask the court to raise, lower, or end the payments based on a significant change in circumstances. That flexibility protects the paying spouse if conditions change, but it also means the recipient cannot treat the income as guaranteed.

Lump-Sum Alimony

Lump-sum alimony is a fixed total amount, paid all at once or in installments over time. It cannot be modified or terminated based on changed financial circumstances or remarriage, and ends only when the supported spouse dies.¹ Courts favor this approach when a clean financial break makes sense, when the paying spouse has resources to settle the obligation up front, or when there is reason to doubt that ongoing payments will actually be made.

Rehabilitative Alimony

Rehabilitative alimony provides temporary support while a spouse completes the education, training, or work experience needed to become self-sufficient. The court sets a specific duration, often tied to how long a degree or certification program takes. Payments can be periodic or lump-sum.¹

This form is modifiable in both directions. If the recipient makes a good-faith effort but hits unforeseen obstacles, they can ask for more time. If the recipient is not making reasonable progress, the paying spouse can petition to reduce or end payments. Rehabilitative alimony also terminates on remarriage, cohabitation for ninety consecutive days, or the death of either spouse.

Reimbursement Alimony

Reimbursement alimony compensates a spouse who contributed to the other’s earning capacity during the marriage. The classic example is one spouse working to put the other through medical school or law school. The court sets a fixed amount, paid as a lump sum or in installments. Like lump-sum alimony, it cannot be modified based on changed circumstances, but it does terminate on remarriage, cohabitation, or the death of either spouse.¹

Temporary (Pendente Lite) Alimony

Courts can award temporary alimony while the divorce is still pending to keep a financially dependent spouse afloat. Either spouse can request it as part of a motion for temporary relief, and if the claim appears well-founded the court sets a reasonable amount that stays in effect until the final order replaces it.¹

How Long Alimony Lasts

Duration tracks the type of alimony. Periodic alimony has no fixed end date and can last a lifetime, which is why it tends to appear in long marriages where one spouse has been out of the workforce for decades. Rehabilitative alimony runs for a set period tied to specific goals. Lump-sum and reimbursement alimony have built-in endpoints because the total amount is fixed from the start.

Across every type except lump-sum, the death of either spouse ends the obligation. Periodic and rehabilitative alimony also end on remarriage or on cohabitation for ninety or more consecutive days. Where the recipient’s age, disability, or other limiting factors make self-sufficiency unrealistic, courts lean toward open-ended periodic support.

Modifying or Ending Alimony Later

After a final alimony order, either spouse can petition the court to change it, but only for periodic or rehabilitative alimony. Lump-sum and reimbursement awards are locked in. The spouse asking for the change has to prove a substantial shift in circumstances since the original order.²

Qualifying changes include a major drop in the paying spouse’s income from a layoff or health problems, or a significant increase in the recipient’s income. Courts look carefully at whether the financial change was voluntary. Deliberately quitting a job or taking a pay cut to dodge alimony will not succeed. On the other side, a recipient who lands a well-paying job or receives a large inheritance gives the paying spouse grounds to seek a reduction.

Retirement

South Carolina law explicitly treats retirement by the paying spouse as grounds to request a modification hearing. The court evaluates six factors:

Whether retirement was anticipated when alimony was originally awarded
The paying spouse’s age
The paying spouse’s health
Whether the retirement is mandatory or voluntary
Whether retirement would actually reduce the paying spouse’s income
Any other factors the court considers relevant

Retirement alone does not guarantee a reduction. A spouse who retires at 50 with substantial investment income will have a much harder time than someone retiring at 67 on a fixed pension.²

Cohabitation

South Carolina defines “continued cohabitation” as the supported spouse living with another person in a romantic relationship for ninety or more consecutive days. A court can also find cohabitation when a couple periodically separates specifically to dodge the ninety-day threshold.³ The parties can agree in writing to a different definition, but without that agreement the ninety-day standard applies.

Proving cohabitation is where things get contested. The paying spouse usually needs evidence like a joint lease, shared financial accounts, utility bills in both names, or witness testimony. A long-term romantic relationship that functions like a marriage can meet the standard even without a shared address. Courts look at the substance of the arrangement.

Automatic Termination

Periodic and rehabilitative alimony end automatically, with no court hearing, when the recipient remarries or when either spouse dies. Cohabitation also ends the obligation, but proving it typically requires a court proceeding.

Taxes on Alimony

For any divorce or separation agreement executed after December 31, 2018, alimony payments are neither deductible by the paying spouse nor counted as taxable income for the recipient. That reversed the prior rule, which allowed the payer to deduct alimony and taxed the recipient on it.⁴

Older agreements executed before 2019 still follow the prior rules unless the agreement was modified after 2018 and the modification expressly states that the new tax treatment applies. For current divorces, neither spouse gets a tax benefit or a tax hit from alimony. Because judges are required to weigh tax consequences when setting the amount, this rule effectively changes the economics of awards compared to pre-2019 cases.

Securing Payments and Enforcing the Order

An alimony award loses its value if the paying spouse dies, so South Carolina courts can require the paying spouse to carry a life insurance policy securing the obligation. The court weighs premium cost, insurability, insurance plans carried during the marriage, and the recipient’s likely financial condition if the paying spouse dies.¹ Getting that requirement written into the original order is much easier than adding it later.

When a paying spouse falls behind, the recipient can ask the court to enforce the order. The main tool is contempt. If the court finds the paying spouse willfully failed to comply despite having the ability to pay, the consequences are serious: up to one year in a local detention facility, a fine of up to $1,500, a public works sentence of up to three hundred hours, or any combination of those penalties.⁵

Courts can also impose interest on overdue payments, which adds up quickly on large arrears. In some cases, courts have suspended a noncompliant spouse’s driver’s license or professional licenses. The key word is “willfully.” A spouse who genuinely cannot pay because of job loss or a medical emergency has a much stronger defense than one who simply stopped writing checks. If you are struggling to keep up, filing for modification before you fall into arrears is far safer than waiting for a contempt motion.

1
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 20-3-130 – Award of Alimony and Other Allowances
2
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 20-3-170 – Modification, Confirmation, or Termination of Alimony; Retirement by Supporting Spouse
3
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 20-3-150 – Segregation of Alimony and Child Support
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals
5
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 63-3-620 – Penalties for Contempt of Family Court