Alimony · UT
Utah alimony and spousal support calculator
Utah leaves the amount of alimony to the judge but stops its length at the length of the marriage.
Rules read on official Utah pages on · Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate
- Income counted
- Gross income
- $8,000 vs $3,000 a month
- No formula
- a month under the rule
- 12-year marriage
- 12 years
- Rules read on
- October 8, 2026
Utah has no formula for the amount of alimony. Under Utah Code § 81-4-502, part of the domestic relations code recodified in Title 81 from September 1, 2024, the court weighs the payee's financial condition and needs, earning capacity, the payor's ability to pay, tax consequences, the length of the marriage, custody of minor children, work in the payor's business and contributions to the payor's education. What the statute fixes is the term: alimony may not be ordered for longer than the marriage lasted, so 132 months after an 11-year marriage, and months of temporary alimony paid during the case count toward that limit. The court may go beyond it only if it finds extenuating circumstances or good cause before alimony ends. Alimony ends automatically on the payee's remarriage or death, and the court must end it, or refuse it, if the payee cohabits. Our calculator returns no monthly amount for Utah and shows the maximum term.
Estimated spousal support in Utah, per month
$0
Duration: up to 12 years
| Length of marriage | 12 years |
| Longest alimony term | 144 months |
Utah has no formula for the amount of alimony; the court weighs the factors of § 81-4-502 (needs, earning capacity, ability to pay, length of marriage…).
Months of temporary alimony paid during the divorce count toward the limit, and the court may exceed it only for extenuating circumstances or good cause found before alimony ends.
Alimony ends on the payee’s remarriage or death, and the court must end it if the payee cohabits.
Estimate under the Utah formula as published; eligibility, the judge's findings and an agreement between spouses decide the real order. How this is calculated.
The clock starts during the case
The rarest feature of the Utah rule is that it counts temporary alimony. Under § 81-4-502(7)(b), every month paid while the divorce is pending reduces the period left after the decree. A spouse who paid 10 months of temporary alimony during a long contested case after an 11-year marriage has at most 122 months left to pay under the decree, not 132. Litigation length therefore matters to both sides. A four-year marriage gives at most 48 months in total.
Remarried to each other
A 2026 amendment addressed couples who divorce, remarry each other and divorce again. When the second divorce petition is filed on or after January 1, 2026, the court adds the two marriages together to measure the length-of-marriage limit. Before that, only the last marriage counted, which could shorten alimony for a spouse whose career break dated from the first one.
Cohabitation ends everything
Utah treats cohabitation severely. If the payor proves that the payee cohabits with another person, during the case or after the decree, the court may not order alimony, including temporary alimony, and must terminate any existing order, even if the cohabitation has ended by the time the motion is filed (§ 81-4-505). The payor must move within one year of when he or she knew or should have known about it. Remarriage ends alimony automatically, though payments resume if the new marriage is annulled as void and the payor took part in the annulment.
Retirement also has its own rule: a party's retirement is a substantial material change in circumstances allowing a petition to modify alimony, unless the decree says otherwise. Without a formula, the amount itself is argued from budgets: the payee may show needs from expenses during the marriage rather than post-separation expenses, and income can be imputed under § 81-4-503 when a payee has no recent work history.
The Utah rule this calculator applies
Scope. Alimony under Utah Code Title 81, Chapter 4, Part 5 (recodified from former § 30-3-5, effective 9/1/2024). No amount formula.
Amount. No amount formula; Utah Code § 81-4-502 lists factors (payee's financial condition and needs, earning capacity, payor's ability to pay, tax consequences, length of marriage, custody of minor children, work in the payor's business, contributions to the payor's skills).
Duration. Utah Code § 81-4-502(7): except for extenuating circumstances or good cause found before alimony ends, the court may not order alimony for longer than the length of the marriage; temporary alimony paid during the case counts toward that period. § 81-4-502(8): for parties who remarry each other, the two marriages are aggregated if the later divorce petition is filed on or after January 1, 2026.
Eligibility. Factors of Utah Code § 81-4-502; alimony terminates on the payee's remarriage or death and the court may not order (and shall terminate) alimony if the payee cohabits (§ 81-4-505).
Worth knowing in Utah
- Months of temporary alimony paid during the divorce count toward the length-of-marriage limit (Utah Code § 81-4-502(7)(b)). source
- A payor must seek termination for cohabitation within one year of when he or she knew or should have known of it (§ 81-4-505(2)(b)). source
- Retirement of a party is a substantial material change allowing a petition to modify alimony unless the decree says otherwise (§ 81-4-504(2)). source