Arizona Revised Statute 25-319 is the law that controls spousal maintenance in Arizona divorces and legal separations. It works in two stages: first, the spouse asking for support has to meet at least one of five eligibility grounds in subsection (A); only then does the court move on to subsection (B), which lists thirteen factors and now requires the court to apply the Arizona Supreme Court’s spousal maintenance guidelines to set the amount and duration.
The Five Grounds That Open the Door
A judge cannot award maintenance at all unless the requesting spouse qualifies under one of the five grounds in ARS 25-319(A). Fail all five and the inquiry ends there.
- The spouse lacks sufficient property, including whatever the divorce decree awards them, to provide for their reasonable needs. This often comes up when wealth is tied up in a house or retirement accounts that cannot easily be converted to cash.
- The spouse cannot earn enough in the current labor market to be self-sufficient. A long gap in work history or outdated skills makes this ground easier to establish.
- The spouse is the custodian of a child whose age or condition makes outside employment impractical.
- The spouse contributed significantly to the other’s education, training, or career, or gave up their own career or income opportunities to benefit the other spouse.
- The marriage lasted long enough and the spouse is old enough that finding adequate employment is unrealistic. Arizona practice generally treats ten years or more as long-duration, though the statute does not fix a number.
Meeting a ground does not guarantee a check. It only lets the court move on to deciding how much and for how long.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-319 – Maintenance; Guidelines; Computation Factors
How the Amount and Duration Get Set
Before September 2022, Arizona judges had broad discretion and similar cases produced wildly different outcomes. Effective September 24, 2022, the legislature amended ARS 25-319(B) to direct the Arizona Supreme Court to adopt formal spousal maintenance guidelines.2Arizona Judicial Branch. Adoption of Revisions to Spousal Maintenance Guidelines
Under the amended statute, the court may award maintenance “only for a period of time and in an amount necessary to enable the receiving spouse to become self-sufficient.” The guideline figure is presumed correct. A judge who deviates has to put the reason in writing. The Arizona Judicial Branch publishes both the guidelines and a spousal maintenance calculator that produce recommended ranges based on income and the length of the marriage.3Arizona Judicial Branch. Spousal Maintenance Guidelines
That written-deviation requirement changed the burden. Any departure from the guideline leaves a paper trail, which makes appeals more concrete.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-319 – Maintenance; Guidelines; Computation Factors
What the Thirteen Factors Actually Look At
The subsection (B) factors feed the guideline calculation and inform any deviation. Grouped by what they measure:
Financial circumstances. Each spouse’s earning capacity, employment history, separate property, and the marital property each receives. The paying spouse’s ability to meet the obligation while covering their own expenses is always part of the equation. A spouse sitting on retirement income or rental cash flow may have weaker grounds for an award even if their paycheck is small.
Standard of living and duration of the marriage. The lifestyle established during the marriage sets the benchmark. Longer marriages typically produce longer maintenance periods because the financial entanglement runs deeper and the receiving spouse has often been out of the workforce longer. The guidelines tie duration to length of marriage, with discretion to adjust where the formula produces an unjust result.
Career sacrifices and contributions. Leaving the workforce to raise children, relocating for a partner’s job, or funding a spouse’s degree all count. So does the reverse: if one spouse helped build the other’s earning power, the court treats that as an investment the requesting spouse deserves a return on.
Age, health, and time to self-sufficiency. The requesting spouse’s age, physical and emotional health, and the realistic time needed to acquire education or training to find appropriate employment. A 55-year-old without a degree faces a different labor market than a 35-year-old whose professional license has lapsed.
Health insurance costs. The cost of health insurance for the requesting spouse is a listed factor, which matters a great deal because the loss of a spouse’s employer coverage is one of the biggest post-divorce expenses.
Misconduct with marital property. If either spouse concealed, wasted, or fraudulently transferred community or jointly held property, the court weighs that in the maintenance calculation. Draining a joint account before filing can backfire at the hearing.2Arizona Judicial Branch. Adoption of Revisions to Spousal Maintenance Guidelines
When the parties disagree about what the requesting spouse could realistically earn, a vocational expert may be brought in to evaluate transferable skills and the local labor market. These assessments can cut either way, supporting a higher award by showing limited earning capacity or undercutting the request by showing untapped potential.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-319 – Maintenance; Guidelines; Computation Factors
Temporary Maintenance While the Divorce Is Pending
Divorces can run for months. Financial imbalances will not wait. Under ARS 25-315(E), either spouse can ask the court for temporary maintenance during the case by filing a sworn statement that lays out the factual basis and the amounts sought.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-315 – Preliminary Injunction; Effect
Temporary orders use the same general framework but with a faster, less exhaustive analysis because the point is bridging an immediate gap. A temporary order expires automatically when the final decree takes over.
When Maintenance Ends
Under ARS 25-327(B), maintenance terminates automatically when either the paying or receiving spouse dies, or when the receiving spouse remarries. These triggers apply unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing or the decree says something different.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-327 – Modification and Termination of Provisions for Maintenance, Support and Property Disposition
Otherwise, the order runs for the period the decree specifies. Payments simply stop on the end date, with no filing needed unless there is a dispute about whether the obligation was satisfied.
Modifying a Maintenance Order
ARS 25-327(A) lets either party petition to modify or terminate maintenance, but only on a showing of changed circumstances that are both substantial and continuing. A short dip in income or a brief health scare does not clear that bar. The statute specifically recognizes that gaining or losing health insurance coverage can qualify.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-327 – Modification and Termination of Provisions for Maintenance, Support and Property Disposition
Timing is strict. Any modification the court approves takes effect on the first day of the month after the other party receives notice of the petition. The court can pick a different effective date for good cause but cannot backdate a modification before the petition was filed. Arrearages that built up before the petition remain owed regardless of what the court later decides.
Parties who want certainty can agree in the decree that the award is non-modifiable, and courts will enforce that. Neither side can then come back later even if circumstances shift dramatically. Think it through carefully before signing.
If the paying spouse is incarcerated or has a disability that prevents employment, ARS 25-327(D) allows the court to suspend the accrual of interest on unpaid maintenance during that period. The underlying obligation stays; the interest clock pauses.
Enforcement When Payments Stop
Arizona does not rely on voluntary compliance. Under ARS 25-505.01, the state can issue an income withholding order directing the paying spouse’s employer to deduct maintenance from each paycheck and forward it to the support payment clearinghouse. The order binds the employer fourteen days after receipt, and withheld funds must be transmitted within two business days of each pay period.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-505.01 – Administrative Income Withholding Order; Notice; Definition
Under ARS 25-504, ignoring an assignment order can trigger contempt of court, including attorney fees, costs, and sanctions. The paying spouse must also keep the court informed of a current home address and employer; failing to report a change within ten days is independent grounds for contempt.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-504 – Order of Assignment; Income Withholding Order; Notice; Definitions
Things ARS 25-319 Does Not Control
Several questions people bring to a maintenance lawyer live in other bodies of law. Short version so you know where to look:
Federal income tax. For any divorce or separation agreement executed after December 31, 2018, maintenance is tax-neutral: the payer gets no deduction, the recipient reports nothing. Pre-2019 agreements keep the old rules, where the payer deducts and the recipient includes the payments in income. A later modification only switches to the new treatment if it expressly says so.8Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 452, Alimony and Separate Maintenance
Health insurance. Federal COBRA rules let a former spouse continue coverage under the employed spouse’s group plan for up to 36 months after the divorce, at up to 102% of the full premium. The plan administrator must be notified within 60 days, and the former spouse then has another 60 days to elect coverage. Miss those windows and the safety net disappears.9Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. COBRA Continuation Coverage Questions and Answers
Bankruptcy. A paying spouse cannot discharge a spousal maintenance obligation in bankruptcy. Under 11 U.S.C. § 523(a), domestic support obligations are excepted from discharge, and under § 362(b)(2) the automatic stay does not block family-court proceedings to establish or modify support.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC Chapter 5 Subchapter 2 – Exceptions to Discharge
Retirement accounts. Dividing a private-employer retirement plan covered by ERISA requires a Qualified Domestic Relations Order, which is a separate order from the maintenance award.11U.S. Department of Labor. QDROs: The Division of Retirement Benefits Through Qualified Domestic Relations Orders
Social Security. A divorced spouse who was married at least ten years and is at least 62 can draw Social Security on the former spouse’s earnings record without reducing the former spouse’s benefit. That ten-year threshold is one reason the long-duration ground in ARS 25-319(A)(5) carries weight well beyond the state maintenance calculation.12Social Security Administration. Who Can Get Family Benefits