Alimony Calculator — CA, NY & TX Spousal Support

Estimate spousal support with California's temporary guideline, New York's statutory formula, or Texas's cap — most states use judicial discretion instead.

July 8, 2026

Not legal advice — estimate only. Most states have no alimony formula at all; actual awards depend on judicial discretion and case-specific facts. Always confirm any figure with a family law attorney licensed in your state before relying on it.

State

This formula estimates temporary support only — a common county guideline (sometimes called the Santa Clara formula) used while a divorce is pending. Permanent California spousal support has no formula; it's decided under Family Code §4320's multi-factor test.

Payor's monthly net income ($)

Payee's monthly net income ($)

Estimated Temporary Support

$1,400/month

(0.4 × $6,000) − (0.5 × $2,000) = $1,400

Only a handful of states publish guideline alimony formulas, and mostly for temporary support while a divorce is pending — California's formula above is one such example and doesn't apply to permanent support. New York's formula is the rare exception that's statutory and applies to both temporary and post-divorce maintenance, subject to the income cap. Texas publishes a cap and duration schedule but no formula for the amount itself. Every other state uses judicial discretion. This calculator is an educational estimate, not legal advice — for child support specifically, see the Indiana Child Support Calculator.

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Reference Values

Last verified: Jul 8, 2026

Category	Range	What It Means	Status
California — Temporary Support Guideline (county formula)	0.4 × Payor monthly net − 0.5 × Payee monthly net	Common county-level guideline formula (variants are sometimes called the "Santa Clara formula") used only for temporary support while a divorce is pending. It has no legal effect on permanent spousal support, which is decided under Family Code §4320's multi-factor test with no set formula.	Good
New York — Guideline Maintenance, No Concurrent Child Support	Lower of: (30% × Payor income − 20% × Payee income) or (40% × combined income − Payee income)	Statutory formula under Domestic Relations Law §236(B)(5-a). Applies to both temporary (pendente lite) and post-divorce maintenance when the payor isn't also paying child support for the same children.	Good
New York — Guideline Maintenance, With Concurrent Child Support	Lower of: (20% × Payor income − 25% × Payee income) or (40% × combined income − Payee income)	Same statute, second formula — used when the payor is simultaneously paying child support for children of the marriage. Produces a lower maintenance figure than the no-child-support version at the same income levels.	Good
New York — Income Cap for the Statutory Formula	$241,000 of payor income (as of March 1, 2026)	DRL §236(B)(5-a) caps the payor income used in the formula, and the cap is adjusted periodically for inflation (CPI-U) by the Chief Administrator of the Courts. Above the cap, additional maintenance on the excess income is entirely at judicial discretion. Treat this figure as needing re-verification, not a permanent constant — check nycourts.gov for the current cap before relying on it.	Okay
Texas — Maintenance Cap	Lesser of $5,000/month or 20% of Payor's average monthly gross income	Texas Family Code Chapter 8 sets a hard ceiling on court-ordered spousal maintenance — there is no income-based formula for the amount itself below the cap, only this maximum.	Good
Texas — Duration, 10–20 Year Marriage	Up to 5 years	Marriages under 10 years generally don't qualify for maintenance at all, absent a family-violence conviction.	Good
Texas — Duration, 20–30 Year Marriage	Up to 7 years	Duration guideline under Family Code §8.054.	Good
Texas — Duration, 30+ Year Marriage	Up to 10 years	The longest standard duration tier; disability-based maintenance can still run indefinitely subject to periodic review regardless of marriage length.	Good
Texas — Family-Violence Exception	Up to 5 years, regardless of marriage length	A spouse convicted of (or receiving deferred adjudication for) a family-violence offense against the other spouse or their child within 2 years of filing can trigger eligibility even in a short marriage.	Okay
Other/Most States	No formula — judicial discretion	The large majority of states use a multi-factor test (marriage length, income disparity, standard of living during the marriage, age and health of both spouses, earning capacity and job-market re-entry, and sometimes marital misconduct) with no set calculation. Some counties publish non-binding worksheets used only as settlement negotiation starting points.	Poor

Source: California Courts Self-Help Center (courts.ca.gov) spousal support guidance and Family Code §4320; New York Domestic Relations Law §236(B)(5-a) and NY Courts maintenance guidance (nycourts.gov); Texas Family Code Chapter 8 (Maintenance).

Worked Examples

California — Temporary Support

State: California
Payor monthly net income: $6,000
Payee monthly net income: $2,000

$1,400/month (temporary support only)

(0.4 × $6,000) − (0.5 × $2,000) = $2,400 − $1,000 = $1,400/month. This figure applies only while the divorce is pending — permanent California spousal support has no formula and is decided under Family Code §4320.

New York — Guideline Maintenance, No Child Support

State: New York
Payor annual income: $96,000
Payee annual income: $36,000
Concurrent child support: No

$16,800/year (~$1,400/month)

Formula (a): (30% × $96,000) − (20% × $36,000) = $28,800 − $7,200 = $21,600. Formula (b): (40% × $132,000 combined) − $36,000 = $52,800 − $36,000 = $16,800. Court uses the lower result: $16,800/year.

New York — Guideline Maintenance, With Child Support

State: New York
Payor annual income: $96,000
Payee annual income: $36,000
Concurrent child support: Yes

$10,200/year (~$850/month)

Formula (a): (20% × $96,000) − (25% × $36,000) = $19,200 − $9,000 = $10,200. Formula (b): unchanged at $16,800. Court uses the lower result: $10,200/year — noticeably less than the no-child-support scenario at the same incomes.

Texas — Cap and Duration

State: Texas
Payor average monthly gross income: $10,000
Marriage length: 12 years

Cap: $2,000/month; Duration: up to 5 years

Cap = lesser of $5,000 or (20% × $10,000 = $2,000) → $2,000/month. A 12-year marriage falls in the 10–20 year bracket, so maintenance can run up to 5 years. Texas sets only a ceiling and duration — there is no formula for the exact amount below the cap.

Other State — No Formula

State: Florida (example)
Marriage length: 18 years
Income disparity: Significant

No calculable amount — judicial discretion

Most states, including Florida, use a multi-factor test (marriage length, standard of living, age/health, earning capacity, income disparity) with no set formula. A court or negotiated settlement weighs these factors case by case — this calculator intentionally does not produce a number for these states.

How to Use This Calculator

1

Select your state

Choose California, New York, or Texas for a guideline-based estimate, or "Other state" to see the multi-factor judicial-discretion explanation that applies almost everywhere else.
2

Enter both spouses' income

California uses monthly net income; New York uses annual gross income (capped at the statutory limit); Texas uses average monthly gross income for the payor only, since it only calculates a cap.
3

Add state-specific details

New York needs to know if the payor is also paying child support for the same children (it changes the formula) and the marriage length for the advisory duration guideline. Texas needs marriage length and whether a family-violence or disability exception applies.
4

Read the result and its limits

Each state's card explains exactly what the number does and doesn't represent — temporary vs. permanent support in California, a cap vs. an award in Texas, and the income cap caveat in New York.
5

Cross-check with the reference tables and examples

The full reference table below breaks out every formula, cap, and duration rule, and the worked examples show the exact arithmetic for each state.

What Each Value Means

Temporary Support (California) ($/month): Support paid while a California divorce case is pending, estimated with a county guideline formula (0.4 × payor's monthly net income − 0.5 × payee's monthly net income). Has no bearing on the permanent award decided later under Family Code §4320.
Guideline Maintenance (New York) ($/year): The statutory maintenance amount under DRL §236(B)(5-a) — the lower of two percentage-of-income formulas, calculated on payor income up to a periodically-adjusted statutory cap. Applies to both temporary and post-divorce maintenance.
Maintenance Cap (Texas) ($/month): The maximum court-ordered spousal maintenance allowed under Texas Family Code Chapter 8 — the lesser of $5,000/month or 20% of the payor's average monthly gross income. Not a formula for the actual award, only a ceiling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why doesn't every state have an alimony formula?

Unlike child support, which every state calculates with a mandated guideline formula, alimony (spousal support or maintenance) is mostly left to judicial discretion. Lawmakers in most states decided that a couple's standard of living, income disparity, marriage length, age, health, and earning capacity vary too much from case to case for a single formula to produce a fair number. Instead, judges weigh a list of statutory factors and set an amount and duration themselves — which is also why two similar-looking divorces can end with very different alimony outcomes. Only a handful of states (or counties, in California's case) have built formulas, and even those are usually limited to temporary support rather than the final, permanent award.

Is California's formula the same as permanent spousal support?

No — this is the single most important thing to understand about California alimony. The 0.4/0.5 formula used on this calculator (sometimes called the Santa Clara formula, with county-level variants) only estimates temporary support: the amount one spouse pays the other while the divorce case is still pending in court. Permanent (long-term, post-judgment) spousal support in California has no formula at all — it's decided under Family Code §4320, which lists over a dozen factors a judge must weigh, including each spouse's earning capacity, the marital standard of living, age and health, and the supported spouse's ability to become self-sufficient. Don't use the temporary-support number on this page to estimate what a final judgment will look like.

How does New York's maintenance formula work?

New York is the clearest exception to the "no formula" rule — Domestic Relations Law §236(B)(5-a) sets an actual statutory calculation that applies to both temporary and post-divorce maintenance. The court calculates two numbers and uses whichever is lower: (a) a percentage-of-income formula (30% of the payor's income minus 20% of the payee's income if there's no concurrent child support, or 20% minus 25% if there is), and (b) 40% of the couple's combined income minus the payee's own income. The formula only applies to payor income up to a statutory cap, which is adjusted periodically for inflation — above the cap, additional maintenance is up to the judge's discretion.

What does the Texas alimony cap actually limit?

Texas Family Code Chapter 8 doesn't give judges a formula to calculate an alimony amount — it gives them a ceiling. Court-ordered maintenance in Texas can't exceed the lesser of $5,000 per month or 20% of the paying spouse's average monthly gross income, whichever is smaller. Duration is also capped by a schedule based on how long the couple was married (generally 5, 7, or 10 years, with marriages under 10 years usually not qualifying at all unless a family-violence conviction or a spouse's disability applies). Within that ceiling and time limit, the actual amount and whether maintenance is awarded at all is still up to the judge.

Can I use this calculator's numbers in a real divorce case?

Treat every number here as an educational starting point, not a legal prediction. For California and Texas, the calculator only reaches part of the picture — California's result is temporary support only, and Texas's result is a cap, not an actual award amount. Even New York's statutory formula can be overridden by a judge who finds it "unjust or inappropriate" after reviewing 20 additional adjustment factors listed in the statute. Every state's calculation can also be affected by a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, other assets being divided in the settlement, and tax treatment of support payments. Always confirm figures with a family law attorney licensed in your state before relying on them for a filing, negotiation, or court hearing.