How Oklahoma calculates support alimony
Oklahoma calls this "support alimony," and its defining feature isn't a formula — it's a hard rule about how long support can run. Every support alimony award in Oklahoma must have a defined end date. There's no such thing as permanent or indefinite alimony here, which puts Oklahoma in a different category from states like Colorado, Alabama, Oregon, or Connecticut, all of which allow open-ended awards in long marriages. This calculator builds a non-statutory planning estimate around that no-indefinite-alimony rule, using a commonly cited practitioner ratio rather than any calculation written into the statute.
The other thing worth knowing before you touch the calculator: 43 O.S. §134, Oklahoma's core alimony statute, doesn't contain a list of factors at all. That's unusual — most states hand judges an enumerated checklist. Oklahoma doesn't. What fills the gap in practice is a consistent, case-law-and-practice-derived set of considerations that shows up again and again across secondary legal sources: the length of the marriage, each spouse's earning capacity, age, health, and education, work history, the standard of living during the marriage, homemaking and caregiving contributions, demonstrated financial need during the post-divorce adjustment period, the recipient's ability and expected timeline to become self-supporting, and the parties' overall financial means. Treat the checklist above as a practical guide to what judges tend to weigh, not a verbatim quote from the statute.
Because there's no statutory formula or duration table, attorneys commonly reason from a rough benchmark: about one year of alimony for every three years of marriage. On that logic, a 15-year marriage might point toward roughly five years of support. Marriages under five years rarely produce an award at all under this practical pattern — again, not because a statute says so, but because that's what tends to happen in practice. The calculator above uses this ratio to generate a planning estimate, and it flags short marriages accordingly. Whatever number comes out, remember the one rule that never bends: the award has to end on a specific date.
43 O.S. §134 does spell out the mechanics for ending or changing support alimony. Remarriage of the recipient generally terminates it — but the recipient isn't cut off automatically the moment they remarry. They get a 90-day window after the remarriage to petition the court to continue some level of support by showing they still have a genuine, continuing need. Voluntary cohabitation with a member of the opposite sex is also a statutory ground the paying spouse can use to ask the court to modify or terminate the award. Beyond those two triggers, modifying support alimony requires showing a change in circumstances that's "substantial and continuing" — not a minor or temporary shift — and any modification only applies going forward; it doesn't reach back and rewrite what's already been paid.
Fault occupies an odd middle ground in Oklahoma alimony law, and it's worth getting right instead of oversimplifying. Adultery is not an automatic bar to receiving alimony, and it's not an automatic reason to award more of it either — Oklahoma courts are primarily looking at financial need and ability to pay. But affairs aren't entirely irrelevant. They can matter in narrow, indirect ways: if an affair led to dissipating marital assets — say, money spent supporting the relationship — that financial harm can factor into the numbers. An affair that caused real health or employability damage to the spouse asking for support can matter too. And if the requesting spouse's own affair-related conduct is what created their financial need in the first place, that can cut against them.
Last reviewed: July 2026. Statute citation: 43 O.S. §134 (support alimony — termination and modification).
Primary source: read the official Oklahoma statute text →
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there an alimony formula in Oklahoma?
No. Oklahoma has no statutory calculation formula and no enumerated factor list — 43 O.S. §134 covers termination and modification mechanics, not the amount. Courts weigh consistently-reported, case-law-derived considerations instead.
Can alimony be permanent or indefinite in Oklahoma?
No. Oklahoma does not permit indefinite or permanent support alimony. Every support alimony award must have a defined end date, which sets Oklahoma apart from states that allow open-ended awards in long marriages.
What happens to alimony if the recipient remarries in Oklahoma?
Remarriage of the recipient generally terminates support alimony. However, the recipient has a 90-day window after remarrying to petition the court to continue some level of support by showing continuing need.
Does adultery affect alimony in Oklahoma?
It's nuanced — not an automatic bar and not an automatic boost. Adultery matters only in narrow, indirect ways: if it caused dissipation of marital assets, caused health or employability harm to the requesting spouse, or if the requesting spouse's own affair-related conduct caused their own need for support.
Does cohabitation affect alimony in Oklahoma?
Yes. Voluntary cohabitation with a member of the opposite sex is a statutory ground under 43 O.S. §134 that the paying spouse can use to petition to modify or terminate support alimony.