Texas Alimony Lawyer - Protecting Your Financial Rights After Divorce

A Texas divorce can divide the house, retirement accounts, and debts, yet still leave one financial question hanging until the end: whether one spouse will pay support to the other after the divorce is final. If you are looking for an alimony lawyer in Montgomery County or northern Harris County, you may already be worried about how you will support yourself or whether you will be asked to pay more than you can reasonably afford.

Texas handles this issue differently than many other states. Court-ordered support after divorce is called spousal maintenance, and the law sets a narrow path to qualify. The statute caps both the monthly amount and the length of the order. A wrong assumption about the 10-year rule, income cap, or evidence needed in court can affect your financial stability long after the decree is signed.

At Horak Law, we represent spouses on both sides of the maintenance question across Montgomery County and northern Harris County. We build the financial record, prepare the legal argument, and help you understand how Chapter 8 of the Texas Family Code may apply to your marriage.

Why Choose Horak Law for Your Texas Alimony Case

Choosing a lawyer for a maintenance dispute means trusting someone with the financial details of your marriage and the uncertainty of your next chapter. You need a direct assessment of where you stand, steady guidance from someone who understands the local courts, and a legal team that treats your private information with care. That is the standard we bring to spouses on both sides of a Texas alimony case.

Decades of Texas Trial Experience

Matt Horak has more than 23 years of trial experience and more than 100 contested trials in Montgomery County and Harris County courts, and he has been named to Texas Super Lawyers in 2025 and 2026. That courtroom background steadies a case, whether a maintenance question is settled at the table or has to be argued before a judge.

A Family Law Team Built for the Hardest Cases

Texas family law is the focus of our practice, not a sideline, and that focus shapes how we staff a case. Attorney Nicole Maldonado handles family law matters alongside Matt Horak, and our senior paralegals add decades of combined experience with support in English and Spanish, so we handle your case with care from the first meeting. For families with significant assets or contested facts, that depth keeps a complex maintenance case organized and moving.

What Texas Alimony Actually Is

What most of the country calls alimony, Texas law calls spousal maintenance. It is court-ordered support that one former spouse pays the other after a divorce, set out in Chapter 8 of the Texas Family Code. The remedy is narrow by design, and because Texas law assumes most adults can support themselves after a divorce, maintenance is the exception rather than the rule.

Spousal Maintenance vs. Contractual Alimony

Not all support in a Texas divorce comes from Chapter 8. Spouses can also agree to contractual alimony, a private support arrangement written into the divorce decree. Because contractual alimony comes from an agreement rather than a judge’s Chapter 8 maintenance order, the spouses can set their own amount, term, and payment structure.

That flexibility also changes enforcement. Court-ordered spousal maintenance may allow remedies such as income withholding and contempt when the order meets statutory requirements. Contractual alimony is generally enforced through contract remedies unless the agreement also satisfies the requirements for enforceable statutory maintenance. The wording of the decree matters.

Who Qualifies for Spousal Maintenance in Texas?

Many divorcing spouses in Texas do not qualify for spousal maintenance, because the law sets a narrow threshold. The spouse asking for support must first show that, after the marital property is divided, they will not have enough property or income to meet their minimum reasonable needs. That phrase generally refers to basic living costs such as housing, utilities, food, transportation, and healthcare, not the lifestyle the marriage supported.

Past that threshold, the spouse must also fall into one of the categories the statute allows under Texas Family Code Chapter 8, Section 8.051:

• A marriage of 10 years or longer, where the spouse seeking support cannot earn enough to meet their minimum reasonable needs.
• An incapacitating physical or mental disability that prevents the spouse seeking support from earning enough, regardless of how long the marriage lasted.
• Custody of a child of the marriage, of any age, who needs substantial care for a physical or mental disability that keeps the spouse from earning enough.
• A conviction or deferred adjudication for family violence by the other spouse against the spouse seeking support or their child, where the offense occurred within two years before filing or while the case is pending.

Meeting one of these conditions does not automatically lead to an award. For the 10-year marriage category, Section 8.053 creates a rebuttable presumption against maintenance unless the spouse seeking support shows diligence during the separation and divorce. That may include efforts to earn enough income, look for suitable work, pursue training, or develop skills needed for self-support. A spouse who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed may face a harder path when asking for maintenance.

How Much and How Long Texas Courts Award

When a Texas court does order maintenance, the statute caps how high the payment can go. Under Section 8.055, monthly maintenance cannot exceed the lesser of $5,000 or 20% of the paying spouse’s average monthly gross income. A spouse who earns $6,000 a month faces a ceiling of $1,200, while a spouse who earns $40,000 a month is capped at $5,000 rather than $8,000, because the flat dollar figure controls once 20% passes it.

Average monthly gross income includes more than a regular paycheck. Common sources include:

• Wages, salaries, and overtime
• Commissions, tips, and bonuses
• Self-employment and business income
• Interest, dividends, and royalties
• Net rental income
• Retirement, pension, trust, and annuity income
• Capital gains and unemployment benefits
• Gifts, prizes, and other income actually received

The law excludes certain income sources, including:

• Social Security benefits
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Workers’ compensation benefits
• Certain disability benefits, including qualifying VA disability compensation
• Return of principal or capital
• Accounts receivable
• Certain public-assistance benefits

When a spouse owns a business or earns irregular income, courts may review tax returns, business records, and income history to determine average monthly gross income.

The amount inside that cap depends on the factors a court weighs under Section 8.052, including each spouse’s financial resources after the divorce, education and earning ability, employment skills, the length of the marriage, age, employment history, physical and emotional condition, efforts to find work or training, and any family violence or marital misconduct the statute allows the court to consider.

Duration is limited the same way. Section 8.054 sets the longest period a court can order, based on the length of the marriage:

• Up to 5 years for a marriage of 10 to 20 years and for any award based on family violence, including a marriage shorter than 10 years.
• Up to 7 years for a marriage of 20 to 30 years.
• Up to 10 years for a marriage of 30 years or more.

When maintenance rests on the spouse’s incapacitating disability or the care of a child of the marriage with a physical or mental disability, a court can order maintenance for as long as the spouse continues to meet the eligibility criteria. The court may also review that order periodically. In other cases, the law directs the court to set the shortest reasonable period that allows the supported spouse to work toward meeting their minimum reasonable needs.

Changing or Ending Spousal Maintenance

A maintenance order is not always permanent, and Texas law is specific about when it ends and when it can change. Under Section 8.056, the duty to pay future maintenance ends automatically when either spouse dies or when the spouse receiving support remarries. It can also end if that spouse begins living with a new partner in a permanent, marriage-like relationship, though a court decides that after a hearing.

Maintenance can be adjusted while it is in effect. Under Section 8.057, either spouse can ask the court to change the amount or duration after a material and substantial change in circumstances. The court can apply a modification only to payments that come due after the request is filed, and it cannot increase maintenance beyond the amount or remaining duration of the original order. That timing matters if income, health, employment, or caregiving needs have changed.

If your circumstances have shifted, we can help you seek a modification or respond to one your spouse has filed.

How a Texas Alimony Lawyer Helps Both Sides

Maintenance is one of the few parts of a Texas divorce where the same statute can help you or cost you, depending on which side you are on.

If You Are Seeking Spousal Maintenance

If you expect to ask for support, the case depends on evidence. We help you document your minimum reasonable needs, show the diligent effort to find work or training that the law expects, and present the record of a long marriage, disability, caregiving responsibility, or family violence behind your claim. A clear record gives the court the facts it needs when deciding whether maintenance applies, how much should be paid, and how long the order should last.

If You May Be Ordered to Pay…

If you may be the one paying, the same statute gives you room to respond. We examine whether your spouse meets the threshold, develop a clear picture of their earning capacity, and test any proposed amount against the statutory cap. For higher earners, we coordinate maintenance with the larger questions in a high-net-worth divorce, where business interests, investment accounts, real estate, and retirement assets may affect the full financial picture.

Many maintenance questions settle rather than go to trial. We negotiate these terms directly and through divorce mediation, and when a case cannot settle, we are ready to present it in a contested divorce before a Montgomery County or Harris County judge.

A larger share of the marital estate in the property division can reduce the need for maintenance, and the same connection shapes alimony in a high-net-worth divorce. Child support runs on a separate statute, so child support and maintenance are decided on different tracks.

Spouses often ask whether alimony is taxable. For divorce or separation agreements executed after 2018, maintenance is not deductible for the spouse who pays and is not included in the receiving spouse’s gross income. Agreements executed before 2019, or later modified in specific ways, may be treated differently. A certified public accountant should review the tax impact before you agree to support terms.

Common Questions About Texas Spousal Maintenance

Can You Receive Spousal Maintenance Before a Divorce Is Final?

Yes. While a divorce is pending, a Texas court can order temporary support for either spouse through temporary orders. This support comes from the court’s authority during the divorce case, not the final Chapter 8 maintenance standard. A spouse may receive temporary support during the case even if they do not qualify for long-term spousal maintenance after the divorce.

What Happens If Your Spouse Stops Paying Spousal Maintenance?

You can ask the family court that issued the order to enforce it. Income withholding may direct the paying spouse’s employer to withhold maintenance from wages and send payment through the proper channel. If payments are still missed, the court may use additional remedies allowed under Chapter 8, including contempt for qualifying maintenance orders. Contractual alimony may require different enforcement steps, so the wording of the decree matters.

Does Remarriage End Spousal Maintenance Automatically?

Yes, for the spouse who receives support. Under Section 8.056, court-ordered maintenance ends automatically when that spouse remarries, and the paying spouse does not need a new court order to stop. The rule runs in only one direction, because the obligor’s remarriage does not end a duty the court already set.

Start the Conversation About Your Texas Alimony Case

Spousal maintenance can affect your budget, your housing, your retirement planning, and your sense of stability after divorce. Whether you are asking for support or responding to a request for payments, the numbers need to be clear before you agree to terms or walk into court.

Horak Law starts with a confidential case review at our office in The Woodlands. Bring recent pay stubs, tax returns, monthly expense information, and any court documents you have. We will review the facts, discuss how Chapter 8 may apply, and help you understand the next step in your Texas alimony case.

Call 713-225-8000 or request a case review to begin.