The amount of alimony, also called spousal support, awarded as a result of a divorce in Massachusetts, is one of the more contentious aspects of a divorce. Which spouse should receive alimony, if any, how much should the paying spouse have to pay and for how long should alimony be paid for – these are questions that can take time to resolve. Once the question of alimony has been resolved, there are further issues down the line such as what happens to the payments when the ex spouse receiving the alimony gets a well paid job, re-marries or forms a significant relationship with another partner. This article attempts to piece together the current state of alimony and alimony laws in Massachusetts.
How the Alimony Reform Act of 2011 (ARA) changed the way alimony is paid
Alimony is a regular payment made by one spouse to the other after divorce. Alimony is awarded by court order if one of the two divorcing spouses has a “need” for it, usually because that ex spouse will be substantially worse off financially than when married.
Until 2012, alimony was determined by the Family Law court by a judge based on a case by case assessment of the needs, assets and income of each divorcing spouse. The following factors were taken into account:
- the goal was to maintain the standard of living of the recipient enjoyed during the marriage;
- permanent, indefinite alimony payments were awarded when the marriage had been a long-term one;
- the amount was determined by the judge, not by a set formula;
- specific factors taken into account included the age of each spouse, their occupation and employable skills, their health, length of marriage, their individual estates, liabilities, how much each spouse was earning and its source.
The pre-2012 determination of alimony had disadvantages in that awards were often regarded as unpredictable and too permanent, sometimes favoring one or the other spouse without justification.
The 2011 Alimony Reform Act, which came into effect in 2012, was enacted to try and resolve the disadvantages in the preceding law. One of the main changes that the Act brought in was a formula used to determine how long alimony should be paid according to the length of the marriage. This cap is now determined as a percentage of the months of marriage
- 5 years or less: 50% of the time in months of the marriage
- 5–10 years: 60%
- 10–15 years: 70%.
- 15–20 years: 80%
For marriages over 20 years, the court may still make a determination that payments should be indefinite.
The Act also states that any ongoing alimony stops when the ex spouse making payments reaches retirement age and starts receiving Social Security.
If the recipient ex spouse begins cohabiting with a new partner, alimony payments will be suspended, terminated or reduced if the period of cohabitation exceeds 3 months.
The other determination made by the ARA which seemed to clarify when and how much alimony should be paid, at least at the time (before tax changes described further below made calculations more challenging was about the differences between the incomes of each spouse. The ARA determined that the amount of alimony paid could not be more than the recipient’s “need” in dollar terms, or 30-35% of the difference between the two spouses’ gross incomes. As we will see, the tax changes introduced in 2019/20 made these judgments less equitable.
How tax law changes upset the calculation of alimony payments
Both federal and state tax laws changed the tax status of both payor and recipient in 2019 / 2022. Previously, the payor could include the amount of alimony paid as a deduction in the amount of federal and state taxes to be paid, while the recipient had to include alimony payments on their tax statement. These pre-existing tax arrangements gave some advantage to the payor.
This tax advantage was upended in 2019, so that alimony payments made by the payor were no longer tax-deductible, while the payments no longer needed to be included as income by the recipient. These changes upended the pre-existing advantage given to the payor and delivered the advantage to the recipient. The changes meant that alimony payors suddenly had to pay out more when both alimony payments and tax increases were taken into account. This change in what was perceived as being unfair to the payor has again meant that alimony law has had to be revised again.
Recent modifications to alimony law in Massachusetts
Because of the changes in tax liability, the old 30-35% difference in spouses’ gross income being the standard for payments, has now shifted to a lower figure of 16-28%, to help balance the perceived inequity to the payor.
Other changes in the law that have been made between 2022 and this year (2026) include the following:
- the amount of “savings” made by the couple during the marriage may now be taken into consideration in calculating the amount of alimony, a change which could benefit the recipient;
- when a court has to consider child support as well as spousal support, it must now take a more careful calculation, which looks at each type of support first taken as priority to determine the most equitable result;
- the recipient’s payments are based only on the income of the payor spouse at the time of divorce and are not increased if the payor later has a higher income. This is an advantage to the payor in terms of increasing equity.
Potential future modifications to alimony payments
Either ex spouse can seek a modification to the amount of alimony at a later date if there has been what is considered a “material change” in the circumstances of payor or recipient. Changes that could justify a petition for modification might include an increase in the recipient’s income, a job loss (payor) or any other significant change in income.
Talk to a Boston divorce lawyer before an impending divorce
Alimony is only one potentially contentious aspects of a divorce. Unless your separation and divorce is amicable and you can agree between you about things like assets distribution, the future of a jointly owned home, child custody and support, as well as spousal support, it may be advisable to seek professional legal help from a Boston based divorce lawyer.