How Kentucky calculates maintenance
Kentucky calls this "maintenance," not alimony, and KRS §403.200 is unusually tight for a no-formula state. Before a court even gets to how much or how long, it has to clear a two-part eligibility gate under subsection (1): the requesting spouse must lack sufficient property, including their share of marital property, to provide for their reasonable needs, and they must be unable to support themselves through appropriate employment — or, as an alternative to that second branch, be the custodian of a child whose circumstances make outside employment inappropriate. Both halves of that test matter. A spouse who has plenty of property but no realistic way to earn a living doesn't clear the gate; neither does a spouse who could easily find appropriate work but happens to have modest property. It's a conjunctive test, and it's the reason some divorces in Kentucky produce zero maintenance discussion at all — the case simply doesn't get past subsection (1).
Once eligibility is established, subsection (2) lists exactly 6 factors: the requesting spouse's financial resources (including apportioned marital property and any child-support sum attributable to the custodial parent); the time needed to acquire sufficient education or training for appropriate employment; the standard of living established during the marriage; the duration of the marriage; the age and physical or emotional condition of the spouse seeking maintenance; and the paying spouse's ability to meet their own needs while also meeting the needs of the spouse seeking support. That's the whole list. Six factors — not the "14 factors" figure that shows up on some secondary-source pages, which appears to conflate Kentucky with a different state's longer list.
What actually makes this list notable is what it doesn't contain. Most states with a factor-based approach — California's 14 factors, Ohio's list, Illinois's — end with some version of "any other factor the court deems just and equitable." Kentucky's list has no such clause. That silence is deliberate as a matter of statutory structure: courts are working from a closed, exclusive list, so an argument for maintenance based on some consideration outside these 6 factors doesn't have a textual home in the statute the way it would almost anywhere else. If you're building an argument for or against maintenance in Kentucky, it has to map onto one of these 6 — there's no "other factors" bucket to fall back on.
Fault, including adultery, is confirmed absent from Kentucky's maintenance framework at every level — it isn't part of the subsection (1) eligibility gate, and it isn't one of the 6 subsection (2) factors. A Kentucky court deciding maintenance has no statutory basis for weighing marital misconduct one way or the other.
Duration has no statutory table in Kentucky — the court sets it "in such amounts and for such periods of time as the court deems just." What you'll hear from Kentucky family-law practitioners instead is a set of rough patterns: marriages under about 5 years rarely produce a maintenance award at all; marriages in the 5-to-10-year range often see rehabilitative maintenance running anywhere from several months to 5 years; and permanent or indefinite maintenance tends to be reserved for marriages exceeding roughly 20 years. None of that comes from the statutory text — it's a practitioner convention built from how courts have actually ruled, not a codified rule, and it shouldn't be treated as a guarantee.
Two more statutory pieces matter once maintenance is actually ordered. KRS §403.250 terminates the obligation to pay future maintenance automatically on the death of either party or the remarriage of the recipient, unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing or the decree expressly says otherwise. And modifying an existing maintenance order — as opposed to it simply terminating — requires a much heavier showing than ordinary modification standards: "changed circumstances so substantial and continuing as to make the terms unconscionable." That's a deliberately high bar, meant to make maintenance orders reasonably stable once set. Both the 6-factor list and the §403.250 termination language date to Kentucky's 1972 enactment, with no amendment identified since — this has been stable law for over five decades.
Last reviewed: July 2026. Statute citations: KRS §403.200 (eligibility gate and factors) and KRS §403.250 (termination on death/remarriage; modification standard).
Primary source: read the official Kentucky statute text →
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Kentucky have a maintenance formula?
No. KRS §403.200 has no calculation formula. The court first checks a two-part eligibility gate, then weighs 6 enumerated factors to decide the amount and duration. The estimate above is a non-statutory planning guideline, not a legal formula.
Who is eligible for maintenance in Kentucky?
Under KRS §403.200(1), a spouse qualifies only if they lack sufficient property, including their share of marital property, to provide for reasonable needs, AND they are unable to support themselves through appropriate employment, or they are the custodian of a child whose circumstances make outside employment inappropriate. Both parts of the property-and-employment test must be met.
What factors do Kentucky courts consider for maintenance, and why is the list exclusive?
KRS §403.200(2) lists exactly 6 factors: the requesting spouse's financial resources, time needed for education or training, the marital standard of living, the duration of the marriage, the requesting spouse's age and health, and the paying spouse's ability to meet their own needs while paying. Unlike many states, there is no catch-all "any other factor" clause, so this is the complete, exclusive list a court can rely on — not the "14 factors" some secondary sources incorrectly cite.
Does adultery affect maintenance in Kentucky?
No. Marital misconduct is absent from both the KRS §403.200(1) eligibility gate and the 6 enumerated factors in subsection (2). Kentucky courts cannot consider fault, including adultery, in deciding maintenance.
Does Kentucky maintenance end automatically?
Under KRS §403.250, maintenance terminates automatically on the death of either party or the remarriage of the recipient, unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing or the decree expressly says otherwise. Modifying (rather than ending) maintenance requires showing changed circumstances so substantial and continuing as to make the existing terms unconscionable — a notably higher bar than an ordinary modification standard.