Spousal Support & Alimony Attorney
Also known as alimony or separate maintenance, spousal support is paid by a spouse with the financial ability to a spouse with a legitimate need. Farrell & Croft, P.C.’s experienced spousal support attorneys work on your behalf toward a satisfactory resolution, whether you’re the potential paying or receiving spouse.
Virginia Spousal Support Factors
Spousal support is an obligation that arises from marriage and isn’t available to unmarried couples. It may be paid by a husband or a wife and isn’t gender-specific. Under Virginia’s spousal support statute, the court must consider a range of factors in determining the amount and duration, if any, of support. The court may order support while the divorce is pending and, after the divorce is granted, for a specific or unlimited period, in a lump sum and/or in monthly amounts.
Types and Duration of Spousal Support
Spousal support can take different forms depending on the case. Pendente lite support is ordered while the divorce is still pending, to maintain the financial status quo. Rehabilitative support is time-limited, meant to give a spouse the chance to become self-supporting, often through education or job training. Permanent or long-term support is less common and typically reserved for longer marriages or situations where a spouse is unlikely to become self-supporting, such as due to age or health.
Modifying Spousal Support
Depending on how it was established, spousal support may be modifiable later based on a material change in circumstances, such as a significant change in either party’s income, retirement, or remarriage of the receiving spouse. Support established by a separation agreement may have different modification terms than support ordered by a court, so it’s important to understand exactly how your support arrangement was structured.
How Support Interacts With Property Division
Spousal support doesn’t get decided in isolation — the court looks at the whole financial picture, including how property and debt are being divided, when deciding what support is fair. A spouse walking away with a larger share of liquid assets may see that weighed against their support request, just as a spouse taking on significant marital debt may see that weighed in their favor. We build our support arguments with that full picture in mind, not just the income numbers on their own.
Tax Treatment of Spousal Support
Federal tax treatment of spousal support changed significantly for agreements executed after 2018 — support payments are no longer deductible by the paying spouse or taxable income to the receiving spouse, a reversal of the rule that applied for decades before. This shift affects how support amounts should actually be negotiated, since the after-tax impact on both parties is different than it once was. We factor current tax treatment into every support negotiation.
Enforcing a Spousal Support Order
When a spouse falls behind on court-ordered support, the receiving spouse has enforcement options similar to those available for child support, including wage withholding and contempt proceedings. Unlike child support, spousal support obligations can sometimes end automatically on remarriage or cohabitation of the receiving spouse, depending on how the original order or agreement was written, so understanding your specific terms matters before you assume nonpayment is enforceable.
Cohabitation and Spousal Support
Many Virginia spousal support agreements and orders address what happens if the receiving spouse begins living with a new romantic partner. Depending on the specific language, cohabitation for a defined period can reduce or terminate support entirely, since it may be treated similarly to remarriage in terms of the receiving spouse’s changed financial circumstances. Because this issue is contract-specific rather than governed by a single statewide rule, it’s worth having your agreement’s cohabitation language reviewed carefully — both when it’s drafted and if the situation later arises.
Spousal Support in Long-Term vs. Short-Term Marriages
The length of the marriage weighs heavily in how Virginia courts approach spousal support. Longer marriages, particularly those where one spouse stepped back from a career to support the household or raise children, more often result in longer-term or indefinite support, since the receiving spouse’s earning capacity may never fully recover. Shorter marriages more often see limited-duration, rehabilitative support, if any is awarded at all, reflecting the more modest degree of financial interdependence the couple actually built together.
Contact us about spousal support to discuss your situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Spousal support is an obligation that arises from marriage, so it’s only available to married or formerly married couples. It can be paid by either spouse and isn’t gender-specific.
The court weighs a range of statutory factors, including each spouse’s income and earning capacity, the length of the marriage, and each party’s needs, to determine both the amount and duration, if any.
Yes. Support can be ordered while the divorce is pending, and after the divorce is granted, for a specific period, an unlimited period, or as a lump sum.
In many cases, yes, if there’s been a material change in circumstances, though this depends on the terms of the original order or agreement.
No. Spousal support addresses the financial relationship between spouses, while child support is a separate obligation both parents owe to their children, calculated under different guidelines.
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