Alimony · NM
New Mexico alimony and spousal support calculator
New Mexico courts publish an alimony worksheet that starts from gross incomes and is computed before child support.
Rules read on official New Mexico pages on · Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate
- Income counted
- Gross income
- $8,000 vs $3,000 a month
- $900
- a month under the rule
- 12-year marriage
- Judge decides
- Rules read on
- October 8, 2026
New Mexico's statewide alimony guidelines, published by the courts, compute spousal support from gross monthly incomes: 30% of the payer's income minus 50% of the recipient's when no child support is paid, and 28% minus 58% when it is. A result of zero or less means no guideline alimony. The official worked examples use a payer at $6,000 and a recipient at $1,800: $900 a month without children, $636 with two. The alimony figure is then deducted from the payer's gross income and added to the recipient's before child support is calculated. The guidelines are advisory and set no income cap; the judge still weighs the factors of NMSA 1978 § 40-4-7(E), such as age, health, earning capacity, needs, the length of the marriage and the property each spouse receives. On duration, the commentary says marriages under 5 years generally lead to no alimony and marriages over 20 years to a reservation of jurisdiction.
Estimated spousal support in New Mexico, per month
$900
Duration: set by the judge
| 30% of the payer’s gross monthly income | $2,400 |
| 50% of the recipient’s gross monthly income | $1,500 |
| Guideline monthly alimony | $900 |
New Mexico’s alimony guidelines are advisory; the judge weighs the factors of NMSA § 40-4-7(E).
With no child support, the 30%/50% formula applies.
Guideline commentary on duration for this marriage length: durational range used by some states (illustrative).
Estimate under the New Mexico formula as published; eligibility, the judge's findings and an agreement between spouses decide the real order. How this is calculated.
A worksheet born in Albuquerque
The guidelines come from a committee of family lawyers, accountants and a judge set up in 2001 by the presiding judge of the Second Judicial District family court in Bernalillo County, and were revised in 2006 for statewide use. The committee studied guideline models elsewhere and settled on a simple two-percentage formula modeled on a Virginia county's pendente lite guideline, then adapted it for post-divorce alimony. That origin explains the resemblance between the New Mexico percentages and Virginia's older ones. The worksheet is now posted among the forms of the New Mexico courts, but no statute or rule makes it binding.
Gross income, then child support
Both incomes on the worksheet are gross, defined as for child support under § 40-4-11.1. Take a payer at $5,400 and a recipient at $2,200 with no child support: 30% of the first is $1,620, 50% of the second is $1,100, and the guideline is $520. When child support is paid, the percentages shift to 28% and 58%, and the result adjusts both incomes before the child support worksheet is filled in. The commentary warns that with a 50/50 time-sharing worksheet, guideline alimony and low child support together may leave the family short.
No cap, and duration left open
Unlike most formulas, the New Mexico guideline has no income ceiling. The committee chose that deliberately, in line with the state's child support guidelines, and noted that in high-income cases the result may be unreasonable and the court should look to the reasonable needs and the marital standard of living instead. The commentary on duration is descriptive rather than prescriptive: 0 to under 5 years, generally no alimony; 5 to under 10 years, generally rehabilitative or transitional only; 10 to under 20 years, durational range used by some states (illustrative); over 20 years, court reserves jurisdiction. For the middle band it mentions that some states use 30% to 50% of the years married, without adopting it, so our calculator gives no term. A lump-sum buy-out remains possible at any length.
The New Mexico rule this calculator applies
Scope. Statewide Alimony Guidelines and Commentaries (revised September 6, 2006), published on nmcourts.gov; advisory, used with the factors of NMSA 1978 § 40-4-7(E).
Amount. Alimony Guideline Worksheet: no children for whom support is paid: 30% of payor's gross monthly income minus 50% of recipient's gross monthly income; with children for whom support is paid: 28% of payor's gross monthly income minus 58% of recipient's. Zero or negative = no alimony. Gross income = child support definition (NMSA 1978 § 40-4-11.1). Alimony is computed first and then subtracted from / added to gross incomes for child support. No cap recommended, but in high-income cases the guideline may be unreasonable.
Duration. Commentary II.F: 0 to < 5 years of marriage: generally no alimony; 5 to < 10: generally only rehabilitative or transitional; > 10 to < 20: some states use 30% to 50% of the years of marriage; > 20 years: the court reserves jurisdiction unless the parties agree to lump-sum non-modifiable support.
Eligibility. NMSA 1978 § 40-4-7(E) factors (age and health, earnings and earning capacity, good-faith efforts to be self-supporting, reasonable needs, duration of marriage, property awarded, assets, liabilities, income from property, agreements), reproduced in the guidelines.