Alimony in Washington: Who Qualifies and How Long It Lasts

In Washington, alimony is called spousal maintenance, and either spouse or either domestic partner can ask for it in a dissolution (divorce), legal separation, or invalidity (annulment) case. There is no statutory formula and no fixed number of years — the judge decides both the amount and the length of maintenance by weighing a specific list of factors set out in state law. That means the honest answer to "how much" and "how long" is: it depends on your case, and a Washington family-law attorney or your local courthouse facilitator can help you apply the factors to your own numbers.

Who can qualify for spousal maintenance in Washington

Under RCW 26.09.090, a court may grant a maintenance order for either spouse or either domestic partner in a proceeding for dissolution of marriage or domestic partnership, legal separation, declaration of invalidity, or in a maintenance proceeding following a dissolution where the original court lacked personal jurisdiction over the absent spouse or partner. There is no requirement that the requesting spouse be the lower earner in every sense, or that misconduct (like an affair) be proven — Washington courts decide maintenance without regard to misconduct.

Importantly, the Washington Supreme Court has clarified that financial need is not a gatekeeping requirement. In In re Marriage of Wilcox, the court held that a requesting spouse's financial need is one factor to weigh, but it is not a prerequisite that must be proven before maintenance can be awarded at all. In practice, this means a spouse doesn't have to show they'd otherwise go without necessities — need is simply one piece of the overall picture.

The factors that decide amount and duration

Washington law does not use a calculator or percentage-of-income formula for maintenance the way it does for child support. Instead, RCW 26.09.090 directs the court to consider:

• Financial resources of the spouse seeking maintenance, including separate or community property awarded to them, and their ability to meet their needs independently.
• Time needed for the spouse seeking maintenance to acquire education or training to find appropriate employment.
• The standard of living established during the marriage or domestic partnership.
• The duration of the marriage or domestic partnership.
• The age, and the physical and emotional condition and financial obligations of the spouse seeking maintenance.
• The ability of the spouse who would pay maintenance to meet their own needs and financial obligations while also paying maintenance.

Because there is no statutory cap on amount and no statutory limit on how long maintenance can last, judges have wide discretion. A marriage of many years with a large gap in earning power and separate assets can produce a very different outcome than a short marriage between two similarly-situated earners — but Washington law does not spell out exact numbers or year-counts for either scenario, so any specific "rule of thumb" you hear should be confirmed against your own decree or with a local attorney rather than assumed.

When maintenance can be modified or ends

Once a court has ordered maintenance, the amount generally is not locked in forever, but it also isn't easy to change. Under RCW 26.09.170(1), the maintenance provisions of a decree can be modified only upon a showing of a substantial change of circumstances. Even then, a modification only applies to payments that come due after the modification request (petition) is filed — it is not retroactive to past-due amounts.

Maintenance also has built-in stopping points. Under RCW 26.09.170(2), unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing or the decree expressly says something different, the obligation to pay future maintenance ends automatically when either party dies or when the spouse or partner receiving maintenance remarries. This is an important detail to check in your own paperwork, since many decrees do include their own custom terms about when payments stop.

Time-sensitive note: the version of RCW 26.09.170 governing modification and termination of maintenance is scheduled to change, with a new version of the statute taking effect April 1, 2027. The version described above is the one in effect until that date. If your situation involves a modification or termination question that will be decided on or after April 1, 2027, confirm with the Washington courts or an attorney whether the newer version of the law changes anything for you, since the specific text of the updated statute isn't reflected here.

Residency and timing rules before you can get a decree

To file for dissolution in Washington, under RCW 26.09.030 the person filing (the petitioner) must be a Washington resident, a member of the armed forces stationed in Washington, or married or in a domestic partnership with someone who meets one of those qualifications. Washington does not impose a minimum number of residency-days before you can file. However, the court cannot actually enter a final dissolution decree until at least 90 days have passed since the petition was filed and the other spouse or partner was served. That 90-day waiting period applies to finalizing the divorce itself, not specifically to a maintenance award, but since maintenance is typically set as part of the final decree, it effectively sets the earliest possible timeline for a maintenance order to become final.

What you can do in Washington

1. Gather your financial picture first. Because the RCW 26.09.090 factors are financial and practical (resources, standard of living, ability to pay), pull together income records, property and debt lists, and documentation of any education or training you'd need for appropriate employment.
2. Document the marriage's standard of living and duration. Since these are explicit statutory factors, keep records or notes on how long the marriage or partnership lasted and what the household's day-to-day standard of living looked like.
3. Check your own decree or proposed decree language. If maintenance is being negotiated, look closely at whether the draft decree addresses what happens on death or remarriage, since RCW 26.09.170(2)'s default termination rule can be overridden by a written agreement — you want to know which rule will actually apply to you.
4. Track any "substantial change" if you want to modify later. If your income, health, or circumstances change significantly after the decree, know that a modification request under RCW 26.09.170(1) only affects payments going forward from when you file it — so don't delay filing once a substantial change happens.
5. Confirm the current statute text before relying on a specific rule. Because RCW 26.09.170 has a version change scheduled for April 1, 2027, verify with the Washington courts or a family-law attorney which version applies to your filing date.
6. Ask about maintenance and bankruptcy together, if either is a possibility. Maintenance obligations are treated differently than ordinary debts in bankruptcy — see below.

If maintenance goes unpaid and bankruptcy comes up

Spousal maintenance is treated as a domestic support obligation under federal bankruptcy law. Under 11 U.S.C. §§ 507 and 523, a domestic support obligation like maintenance (or child support) generally cannot be eliminated in bankruptcy (§523(a)(5)), and it is paid ahead of most other unsecured debts in a bankruptcy case (§507(a)(1)). Debts from a property settlement in a divorce decree owed to an ex-spouse are also generally non-dischargeable in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy under §523(a)(15). In practical terms, a former spouse filing for bankruptcy usually cannot use that filing to walk away from maintenance they owe you.

This article is for general information only and is not legal advice; consult a licensed Washington attorney about your specific situation.