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Martine Law PLLC | Updated October 23, 2026
Minnesota has no formula for spousal maintenance, the state’s legal term for alimony. A judge first decides whether a spouse qualifies, then sets the amount and length by weighing all relevant factors, including eight listed in section 518.552 such as each spouse’s needs and resources, the marital standard of living, and the length of the marriage. Since 2024, the statute also sets rebuttable presumptions on duration tied to how long the marriage lasted.
This guide explains who qualifies, how judges think through the amount, how long alimony lasts in Minnesota, and when it can be changed or ended.
What is spousal maintenance in Minnesota?
Spousal maintenance is Minnesota’s legal term for alimony. The statute defines it as payments, ordered in a dissolution or legal separation, from the future income or earnings of one spouse for the support of the other.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.003, subdivision 3a, maintenance
Maintenance is separate from child support and from the division of property, but the two are linked. In deciding whether maintenance is needed, the court considers the marital property apportioned to the spouse seeking it. Maintenance can also be ordered on a temporary basis while the case is pending.
Who qualifies for spousal maintenance in Minnesota?
Either spouse can ask. The court may award maintenance if the spouse seeking it:
- does not have enough property, including the marital property awarded in the divorce, to provide for reasonable needs considering the standard of living during the marriage, especially during a period of training or education; or
- is unable to provide adequate self-support, after considering the marital standard of living and all relevant circumstances; or
- is the custodian of a child whose condition or circumstances make it appropriate for that parent not to be required to seek work outside the home.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.552, subdivision 1, grounds
Need alone does not end the analysis. The court also looks at whether the other spouse can pay while meeting their own needs.
Is there a spousal maintenance calculator in Minnesota?
No. Unlike child support, Minnesota has no guideline table, percentage, or official calculator for maintenance. Online calculators and “rules of thumb” that apply a percentage of the paying spouse’s income are not Minnesota law.
Instead, the court sets the amount and duration “as the court deems just,” without regard to marital misconduct, after considering all relevant factors, including:
- The financial resources of the spouse seeking maintenance, including marital property awarded, and that spouse’s ability to meet needs independently, including any portion of child support that covers that spouse as the custodian.
- The time needed to get education or training to find appropriate employment, and the likelihood, given age and skills, that the spouse will finish and become fully or partially self-supporting.
- The standard of living during the marriage, and whether it was funded by debt.
- The length of the marriage; the earnings, seniority, benefits, and other employment opportunities the spouse gave up to support the other spouse or the children; the length of absence from employment; and whether skills have become outdated and earning capacity permanently diminished.
- The age and the physical, mental, and chemical health of both spouses.
- The ability of the paying spouse to meet their own needs while also paying maintenance.
- Contributions of one spouse to the other spouse’s employment or business.
- Each spouse’s need and ability to prepare for retirement, and when each is expected to retire.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.552, subdivision 2, amount
How do the factors apply to the numbers?
The factors point the evidence in two directions. Grounds and factor 1 look at the requesting spouse: reasonable needs measured against the marital standard of living, set against that spouse’s income, property awarded, and ability to become self-supporting. Factor 6 looks at the paying spouse: whether that spouse can meet their own needs while also paying. Budgets, income records, and employment history are the evidence for both sides, and the measurement of income and “reasonable” needs can be the core of the dispute.
“Without regard to marital misconduct” means fault for the breakup, such as an affair, is not a factor in the amount. Financial conduct that affects resources can still matter through the other factors.
How long does alimony last in Minnesota?
Minnesota rewrote its maintenance law in 2024. Awards are now either transitional, meaning for a set period, or indefinite. Older orders labeled temporary maintenance are treated as transitional, and older orders labeled permanent maintenance are treated as indefinite.
The statute now sets rebuttable presumptions based on the length of the marriage, measured from the date of marriage to the date the action is commenced:
| Length of marriage | Rebuttable presumption |
|---|---|
| Less than 5 years | No maintenance should be awarded |
| 5 years to less than 20 years | If the grounds are met, transitional maintenance lasting no longer than one half the length of the marriage |
| 20 years or more | If the grounds are met, indefinite maintenance |
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.552, subdivision 3, duration
A case is commenced by service of the summons and petition. In a joint petition case, it is deemed commenced when both spouses have signed the verified petition.
Source: Minnesota General Rules of Practice, Rule 302.01
The 2024 changes were enacted in Laws 2024, chapter 101, article 2. That article contains no separate effective date clause, so under Minnesota’s general rule it took effect August 1, 2024. The article also does not state whether the presumptions reach cases started before that date. It does convert awards issued before August 1, 2024: temporary awards are deemed transitional and permanent awards are deemed indefinite.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 645.02, effective date of acts
Source: Laws of Minnesota 2024, chapter 101, article 2
These are presumptions, not fixed rules. Either side can present evidence to rebut them. A 12 year marriage, for example, starts from a presumption of no more than six years of transitional maintenance, but the facts can move that number in either direction.
What is temporary maintenance?
Temporary maintenance is support ordered while the divorce is still pending. Either party can ask for it, along with other temporary relief such as temporary child support and use of the home. Under the 2024 law, maintenance awarded while an initial divorce or legal separation case is pending is deemed temporary maintenance, which is different from a transitional award in the final decree.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.131, temporary orders
Can spouses agree on maintenance without the court deciding?
Yes. Spouses can negotiate the amount and duration of maintenance and submit the terms to the court. They can also expressly preclude or limit future modification of maintenance through a stipulation. For that kind of agreement to be enforced, the court must make specific findings that it is fair and equitable, supported by consideration described in the findings, and made with full disclosure of each party’s financial circumstances. It must be included in the judgment and decree or a later stipulated order. The parties can later restore the court’s authority to award or modify maintenance through a binding stipulation.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.552, subdivision 5, private agreements
A waiver of modification is a major decision. Unless both parties later agree to restore the court’s authority, it can bind both sides even if income or health changes sharply.
When does spousal maintenance end in Minnesota?
Unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing or the decree says otherwise, future maintenance ends when either party dies or when the spouse receiving maintenance remarries.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.552, subdivision 5a
A transitional award also ends at the close of the period the decree sets, unless it is extended through a modification motion.
Can spousal maintenance be modified?
Yes, on a motion by either party, unless a valid agreement bars it. The court can change the amount or duration if a substantial change makes the existing terms unreasonable and unfair. The statute lists three grounds:
- substantially increased or decreased gross income of either party;
- substantially increased or decreased need of either party; or
- substantial changes in federal or state tax law affecting maintenance.
The court applies the factors for an award under subdivisions 1 to 3 as they exist at the time of the motion. A modification can be made retroactive for the period the motion is pending, starting no earlier than the date notice of the motion was served on the responding party, unless the parties enter a binding agreement for an alternative effective date. Waiting to file can cost months. No evidentiary hearing is required.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.552, subdivision 5b, modification
Does cohabitation stop alimony in Minnesota?
It can. If the spouse receiving maintenance lives with another adult after the divorce, the court may reduce, suspend, reserve, or terminate maintenance. The court looks at whether the recipient would marry the partner but for the maintenance, the economic benefit of living together, how long the arrangement has lasted and is likely to last, and the effect on the recipient if maintenance is changed and the cohabitation ends. The court may not modify maintenance based solely on cohabitation with a person the recipient would be legally barred from marrying because of a close family relationship. A cohabitation motion cannot be brought within one year of the decree unless the parties agreed in writing to allow it or the court finds that barring it would create an extreme hardship.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.552, subdivision 6, cohabitation
What happens when the paying spouse retires?
Retirement by either party can support a motion to reduce, suspend, reserve, or terminate maintenance. The court considers whether the retirement is in good faith, whether the party has reached full Social Security retirement age or the customary retirement age for the occupation, how assets have been managed since the divorce, and both parties’ resources. A party who reaches that age is presumed to use both income and assets to meet their needs and is not presumed to retire in bad faith. A motion can be filed before retirement if it specifies the date retirement will occur, and the court may make the change effective on the actual retirement date.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.552, subdivision 7, retirement
Questions people ask
How much is spousal maintenance in Minnesota?
There is no set amount or percentage. The court weighs the eight statutory factors, centered on the recipient’s reasonable needs and the payer’s ability to pay.
Does Minnesota have permanent alimony?
Minnesota now calls it indefinite maintenance. It is presumed for marriages of 20 years or more when the grounds for maintenance are met. Orders entered before August 1, 2024 that say permanent are treated as indefinite.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.552, subdivision 3
Does an affair affect spousal maintenance in Minnesota?
No. The statute directs the court to set maintenance without regard to marital misconduct.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.552, subdivision 2
Can I get spousal maintenance after a short marriage?
For a marriage under five years, the law presumes no maintenance. That presumption can be rebutted with evidence, so a short marriage does not automatically end the question.
Can maintenance be changed if the order says it cannot be modified?
Generally no, if the waiver meets the statutory requirements and is in the decree. The parties can restore the court’s authority by a binding stipulation, and a decree can still be reopened on the limited grounds in section 518.145, such as fraud or newly discovered evidence, within the time limits that section sets. That is why the terms of any waiver deserve careful review before you sign.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.552, subdivisions 4 and 5
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.145, subdivision 2, reopening
When did Minnesota’s alimony law change?
The current transitional and indefinite framework and the duration presumptions come from Laws 2024, chapter 101, article 2, which took effect August 1, 2024. Awards issued before that date that were labeled temporary are deemed transitional, and those labeled permanent are deemed indefinite.
Source: Minnesota Statutes 518.552, subdivision 3
For the full picture of how a Minnesota divorce works, see our guide to Minnesota divorce laws.
Talk with Martine Law about spousal maintenance
Maintenance decisions rest on evidence: budgets, income records, career history, and a clear account of the marital standard of living. The 2024 presumptions changed the starting point for many cases, especially marriages near the 5 year and 20 year lines. Martine Law handles maintenance as part of Minnesota divorce cases, including requests for, defenses against, and modifications of support.
If you are starting a divorce, negotiating a settlement, or facing a change in an existing order, contact Martine Law PLLC or call (612) 482-9475. Phones and chat are answered 24/7, with AI covering when no staff is free. Tell us how long you were married and where the case stands.
This article provides general information about Minnesota spousal maintenance law. The result in any case depends on its specific facts and the court’s findings.
