How Missouri calculates maintenance
Missouri uses the term "maintenance," and its statute, RSMo §452.335, is structured differently from most states' alimony laws in one important way: eligibility comes first, and it's a real gate, not just a factor to weigh alongside everything else. Under §452.335.1, a spouse seeking maintenance must satisfy both halves of a threshold test. First, they must lack sufficient property, including whatever marital property gets apportioned to them in the divorce, to provide for their reasonable needs. Second, they must be unable to support themselves through appropriate employment, or be the custodian of a child whose physical or mental condition makes it inappropriate for that spouse to seek outside work. Both conditions have to be true. If a spouse has enough assets to cover their needs, or can reasonably work and has no qualifying caregiving role, the inquiry can stop right there. No maintenance follows, no matter how long the marriage lasted.
Only after that threshold is cleared do the amount factors under §452.335.2 come into play, and even then there's no formula: no percentage of income, no calculation a court runs. The factors include the requesting spouse's financial resources (including any income-producing marital property apportioned to them), the time needed to gain sufficient education or training for appropriate employment and whether their future earning capacity can support a standard of living comparable to the marriage, each spouse's comparative earning capacity, the marital standard of living, each party's obligations and assets, how long the marriage lasted, the requesting spouse's age and physical or emotional condition, the paying spouse's own ability to meet their needs while paying maintenance, the conduct of the parties during the marriage, and tax consequences along with any other relevant factor.
Missouri also does something distinctive on the back end: §452.335.3 requires every maintenance order to explicitly state whether it's modifiable or nonmodifiable. If the order sets a termination date and doesn't designate itself nonmodifiable, it stays open to modification, meaning a court can decrease, increase, extend, or terminate it, if either party shows substantial and continuing changed circumstances (a job loss, a disabling injury, a significant income shift) that arose before that termination date. Nonmodifiable orders skip that review entirely; what's ordered is what stands, absent an appeal.
Conduct of the parties is a named factor, which puts Missouri in the smaller group of states where fault can matter directly rather than being excluded outright. But "can matter" doesn't mean "usually decides the case." Missouri courts take a holistic, non-determinative approach to this factor: an affair by itself rarely changes the maintenance outcome. What tends to move the needle is when infidelity is tied to something with real financial or safety consequences, such as marital funds spent on the affair (dissipation) or domestic violence connected to the relationship. Either of those typically carries far more weight in a Missouri courtroom than the infidelity on its own.
Missouri doesn't add a separate marriage-length minimum on top of the two-part threshold, either. There's no requirement that the marriage last a certain number of years before maintenance becomes available. That puts the practical weight entirely on the threshold test itself: a short marriage where one spouse genuinely lacks sufficient property and can't support themselves through appropriate employment can clear the gate just as a decades-long marriage can, and a long marriage where both spouses walk away with enough property and earning capacity may not clear it at all. Marriage length still shows up later, as one of the ten §452.335.2 amount factors, but it isn't an independent eligibility requirement the way it functions in some other states.
No amendment to RSMo §452.335 has surfaced through the Missouri Revisor of Statutes or secondary legislative tracking in the 2023-2026 window. The two-part threshold and the modifiable/nonmodifiable framework remain stable through mid-2026.
Content date: July 2026; professional review pending. Statute citation: RSMo §452.335 (maintenance eligibility, factors, and modifiability).
Primary source: read the official Missouri statute text →
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Missouri have a maintenance formula?
No. RSMo §452.335 uses a two-step threshold-eligibility-plus-factors test, not a calculation formula. A spouse must first meet both parts of the eligibility threshold before the court even considers the amount factors.
Who is eligible for maintenance in Missouri?
You must meet both parts of the threshold under RSMo §452.335.1: you lack sufficient property, including marital property apportioned to you, to provide for your reasonable needs, AND you're unable to support yourself through appropriate employment, or you're the custodian of a child whose condition makes outside employment inappropriate.
Does adultery affect maintenance in Missouri?
It can, but it's rarely decisive. "The conduct of the parties during the marriage" is an explicit factor under RSMo §452.335.2(9). Missouri courts take a holistic approach, and an affair alone rarely changes the outcome unless it caused direct financial harm or involved abuse — either of which carries substantially more weight than infidelity by itself.
Can Missouri maintenance be modified later?
Yes, unless the order says otherwise. RSMo §452.335.3 requires the order to state whether it's modifiable or nonmodifiable. If it's modifiable and includes a termination date, it can still be changed on a showing of substantial and continuing changed circumstances that arose before that date.
What factors decide Missouri maintenance amount?
Once eligibility is met, RSMo §452.335.2 lists factors including financial resources, time needed for education/training, comparative earning capacity, standard of living during the marriage, each party's obligations and assets, duration of the marriage, age and health, the payor's ability to meet their own needs, the conduct of the parties, and tax consequences.