How Maryland calculates alimony
Maryland's alimony statute, Md. Code, Family Law §11-106, is a pure factor test. There's no percentage of income, no calculation, nothing a lawyer can plug numbers into and get a court-sanctioned answer. The factors cover the requesting spouse's ability to become wholly or partly self-supporting, the time it would take to gain enough education or training for suitable employment, the standard of living the couple established during the marriage, how long the marriage lasted, each party's monetary and non-monetary contributions to the family's well-being, the circumstances that contributed to the parties' estrangement, age, physical and mental condition, the paying spouse's own ability to meet their needs while paying support, any prior court-ordered financial award, any agreement between the parties, and the financial needs and resources of each side, including tax consequences.
What sets Maryland apart from a lot of factor states is a strong, explicit judicial preference for rehabilitative alimony over anything open-ended. Maryland courts are supposed to set a fixed amount and a fixed term aimed at getting the recipient to a point of self-sufficiency, not to replicate the marital standard of living indefinitely. A commonly cited practitioner shorthand estimates roughly one year of alimony for every three years of marriage in rehabilitative cases, but that's an informal rule of thumb passed around by attorneys, not something written into §11-106, and it should be labeled as such whenever you see it used.
Indefinite alimony is the exception, and Maryland keeps the door to it narrow. Under §11-106(c), a court can only order indefinite alimony if it finds one of two things: either the requesting spouse, because of age, illness, infirmity, or disability, cannot reasonably be expected to make substantial progress toward becoming self-supporting, or, even after that spouse has made as much progress toward self-support as can reasonably be expected, the parties' respective standards of living would remain unconscionably disparate. Both routes require the court to make a specific finding; indefinite alimony isn't simply available because a marriage was long, the way it functions as a general presumption in some other states.
Fault occupies a genuinely nuanced spot in current Maryland law, and it's worth getting right. Maryland eliminated fault-based grounds for divorce (adultery, desertion, cruelty, and insanity as grounds to get divorced in the first place) effective October 1, 2023. That reform simplified Maryland largely to a no-fault and limited-separation-based system for the divorce itself. But it did not touch the §11-106 alimony factors. "The circumstances that contributed to the estrangement of the parties" is still on the books as factor six, and it can still let a court weigh why the marriage ended when setting alimony, even though that same conduct is no longer needed or available as a ground for the divorce itself. It's a distinction worth holding onto: fault is gone from how you get divorced, but a version of it can still shape what you pay or receive afterward.
Maryland also doesn't impose a minimum marriage-length threshold just to be eligible for alimony in the first place. Some states won't even entertain a support request below a set number of years married; Maryland isn't one of them. Instead, marriage length works its way into the analysis as one of the twelve §11-106(b) factors and, more practically, as a major input into the rehabilitative-duration guideline attorneys use — a short marriage naturally points toward a shorter rehabilitative term under that convention, while a long marriage is more likely to raise the §11-106(c) question of whether an unconscionable disparity in standards of living would remain even after maximum reasonable progress toward self-support.
Last reviewed: July 2026. Statute citation: Md. Code, Family Law §11-106 (factors, rehabilitative vs. indefinite alimony); 2023 Maryland reform eliminating fault-based divorce grounds, effective October 1, 2023.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Maryland have an alimony formula?
No. Md. Code, Family Law §11-106 is a pure factor test with no percentage calculation. This tool applies a non-statutory guideline so you have a planning number, alongside the real factor list.
How long does alimony last in Maryland?
Maryland courts strongly favor rehabilitative (time-limited) alimony designed to help the recipient become self-supporting. A commonly cited practitioner convention estimates roughly 1 year of alimony per 3 years of marriage for rehabilitative awards, but this is informal practice, not a codified statutory rule.
When can alimony be indefinite in Maryland?
Only in two situations under Fam. Law §11-106(c): the recipient cannot reasonably be expected to make substantial progress toward self-support due to age, illness, infirmity, or disability, or even after maximum reasonable progress, the parties' standards of living would remain unconscionably disparate.
Does adultery affect alimony in Maryland?
Maryland eliminated fault-based grounds for divorce, including adultery, effective October 1, 2023. But that reform did not remove the alimony factors themselves — "the circumstances that contributed to the estrangement of the parties" remains a factor under §11-106(b) and can still allow marital misconduct to be weighed in the alimony decision, even though it's no longer a required divorce ground.
What are the Maryland Family Law §11-106 factors?
Factors include the requesting spouse's ability to be self-supporting, time needed for education or training, marital standard of living, duration of the marriage, monetary and non-monetary contributions, circumstances contributing to the estrangement, age and health, the payor's ability to meet their own needs, prior awards, agreements between the parties, and each party's financial needs and resources.