DanfioSearch tools/

Type a tool name, a pinyin spelling or a synonym - both languages are searched.

Alimony Calculator

U.S. only tools

Alimony is not child support. Child support relies on a schedule in every state—the percentages differ, the shape does not. Alimony, in most states, is just a list of factors a court weighs, with no number anywhere to apply. This calculator therefore covers only the states whose statutes actually print a number. It names those states directly, rather than offering fifty states and guessing at forty-nine. This page currently covers 3 states; data for the other states cannot yet be verified through official sources, so they are not listed here. This page relies strictly on officially published information - it does not guess or fabricate, so every figure on it has a source that can be checked.

Alimony Calculator - Danfio

https://danfio.com/tools/alimony-calculator/ - printed from this page

Currency: USD ($) - display only, nothing was converted

Only states whose statute prints a formula appear here. More are added one round at a time; a state whose law leaves the amount to the judge has none to add.

$

The statute works on the difference between the two, so the fields can be filled in either order. The income basis follows the state you selected: net income (after the deductions Florida allows) for Florida, gross income (as the child-support guidelines define it) for Massachusetts. This page asks for the figure rather than working it out, because that definition lives in another statute.

$

The other party’s income, on the same basis as the field above - net for Florida, gross for Massachusetts. Before any spousal support is paid: Florida excludes support already ordered in this action from the net it measures.

From the date of the marriage to the date the dissolution was filed - the statute defines the length that way, not to the date of the order.

Results update as you type. Nothing leaves your device.

Currency symbol

Symbol only - nothing is converted and no exchange rate is used. Figures quoted in the explanation text stay as the sources publish them.

Florida’s ceiling for durational alimony

$1,400.00 a month

35% of $4,000, the difference between the two net incomes, under Florida Statutes s. 61.08. It is a ceiling on the amount and not an award: the statute takes the lesser of that figure and the obligee’s need, and need is a fact a court finds rather than something this page can derive.

The difference
$4,000
A year at that ceiling
$16,800.00
The marriage
short-term marriage
Longest durational award
4 years 50% of the marriage

The arithmetic, line by line

StepValue
Higher monthly net income$6,000.00
Other party’s monthly net income$2,000.00
The difference$4,000.00
35% of the difference - the statute’s ceiling$1,400.00
The same ceiling over a year$16,800.00

Nothing is rounded on the way except the money, to the cent. The line the statute turns on is the fourth one: the ceiling the rest of this page is about.

What this statute puts a ceiling on

What is cappedHow the statute caps itYour figures
The amount of a durational award35% of the difference between the two net incomes, or the obligee’s need if that is less$1,400.00
The length of a durational award50% of a short-term marriage4 years
Bridge-the-gap alimonya fixed ceiling on the length; no amount rule2 years
Rehabilitative alimonya fixed ceiling on the length; no amount rule5 years

Florida Statutes s. 61.08 is where all four come from. The first two are computed from your figures; the last two are the statute’s own numbers and do not move.

Two things this page computes are not the award, and the statute says so itself. Florida Statutes s. 61.08(8)(c) takes the lesser of 35% of the difference and the obligee’s reasonable need - so a need below $1,400.00 becomes the figure, and need is found on the evidence. And Florida Statutes s. 61.08(9) adds that an award may not leave the paying party with significantly less net income than the recipient unless the court makes written findings of exceptional circumstances.
Which field moves what, since two of them deliberately move nothing. The length of the marriage cannot change the 35% ceiling - it decides only how long a durational award may run. And the two incomes cannot change that length: the cap is a share of the marriage, not of the money. If you change one and only the other half of the panel moves, that is the statute, not a field that failed.
A durational award may not be longer than 50% of the marriage, because 8 years is a short-term marriage - for these figures that is 4 years, to the month. A court may extend the term beyond that only on clear and convincing evidence of exceptional circumstances and after the factors in Florida Statutes s. 61.08(3), so this is a ceiling on the ordinary case rather than a limit a court cannot pass.
Only a state whose statute prints a number can be computed here, and today that is Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts. Most states do not: their statute lists the factors a court weighs and leaves the amount to the judge's judgment, with no percentage anywhere to apply - Ohio (Ohio Revised Code 3105.18) and Kansas (K.S.A. 23-2902) are two that read that way, and neither is modelled here because there is nothing to apply. That is not a gap in this page; it is the answer for those states, and it is why the field above offers no such state rather than offering one and quietly inventing a figure.
This is arithmetic on a published statute, not legal advice and not an order. need, which is the other half of the amount test, and the net income both sides work from: s. 61.08(8)(c) takes the lesser of the two, and need is a fact the court finds on the evidence rather than a figure this page can derive. Net income itself is defined by s. 61.30(2) and (3), a different statute from the one snapped here, so this page asks for it rather than computing it - and it does not touch any other form of alimony beyond the two ceilings bridge-the-gap and rehabilitative alimony have (their amounts are left to the court, which is why only their lengths are printed here). Nothing you type is transmitted anywhere.
The percentages, the marriage bands and the three length ceilings: The Florida Legislature, “Florida Statutes, F.S. 61.08 - Alimony (2026 edition)”, http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.08.html. They were read from a snapshot committed in sources/ (fl-61-08.html, 34392 bytes, SHA-256 d2a433fd4ca6fea6…), fetched 2026-09-21T23:19:50.523Z by github-actions/Linux run 35667028849. No page in sources/ named this statute, so this round read the URL the way docs/tool-playbook.md section 11 allows a page to be *looked at* (a rendering service, which proves a path exists but is not evidence and is not parsed): the section was then fetched for real on the US runner, and it is those bytes - not the look - that every number above comes from. Cited but not snapshotted, and carrying no figure anywhere on this page: Ohio, Ohio Revised Code 3105.18; Kansas, K.S.A. 23-2902 - two statutes that state no formula, which is why their states are not in the select above. Net income itself is not computed here: the statute defines it by reference to a different section (s. 61.30(2) and (3)), so the fields ask for it rather than deriving it.

The three dials this statute turns, whatever your income

The cap rate
35% of the difference between the two incomes; the obligee’s need can cut the award below it and cannot raise it.
The length share in this band
50% of the marriage: the durational ceiling is a share, not a number of years the statute prints.
The rehabilitative ceiling
5 years a length ceiling only - the statute sets no amount rule for this form, so no figure is computed for it.

What this ceiling covers, and what it leaves out

  • Covers the amount: a share of the difference between the two incomes, or the obligee’s reasonable need where that is the lower of the two.
  • Covers the length: a share of the marriage, or an indefinite term once the marriage passes 20 years.
  • Leaves out need itself: it is found on the evidence, so a figure on this page can be cut by it and never raised.
  • Leaves out the other forms - rehabilitative, bridge-the-gap, reimbursement and transitional - which carry length rules but no amount rule this page can apply.
  • Leaves out what a court must find before it departs, and the tax and child-support interactions, which sit in other sections.

Today that is three states. Florida caps the amount of a durational award at 35 percent of the difference between the parties’ net incomes (s. 61.08(8)(c)), caps its length at 50, 60 or 75 percent of the marriage, and sets fixed ceilings of 2 years for bridge-the-gap alimony and 5 years for rehabilitative alimony. Illinois omits the middle step and prints the figure outright: 33 1/3 percent of the payor’s net annual income minus 25 percent of the payee’s, capped so the payee keeps no more than 40 percent of combined net income (750 ILCS 5/504(b-1)(1)(A)), with a duration that is a factor from 20 to 80 percent of the marriage (504(b-1)(1)(B)). Massachusetts caps general term alimony at the recipient’s need or 30 to 35 percent of the difference between the parties’ gross incomes (c.208 §53(b)), with a term that runs a share of the marriage - 50, 60, 70 or 80 percent by band - up to 20 years and then opens to an indefinite term (§49(b)(c)). Every one of those figures is re-read out of a committed copy of the statute by a test, so the page cannot drift away from the law it cites.

About this alimony calculator

Alimony is the rare family-law figure that a few states publish as a formula, and this page answers only for the states whose rule it can quote: Florida, Illinois and Massachusetts, each read out of the statute itself and re-checked line for line against the official text at every release.

What those rules produce is a ceiling rather than an award, and a duration rather than a promise - need, the standard of living during the marriage and a judge decide the rest. Massachusetts measures the amount against the parties’ gross incomes, so its two income fields ask for gross figures; its General Term duration climbs 50, 60, 70 then 80 percent of the marriage and, once the marriage passes 20 years, opens to an indefinite term. Where a state publishes no formula, the page says so and names the section, rather than inventing a number for it. An estimate, not a return, and not tax advice.

How this alimony calculator works

Why the amount is a ceiling, not an award

The statute does not say what an award is; it says what it may not exceed. Section 61.08(8)(c) reads: “The amount of durational alimony is the amount determined to be the obligee’s reasonable need, or an amount not to exceed 35 percent of the difference between the parties’ net incomes, whichever amount is less.” So there are two halves to the amount, and only one of them is arithmetic.

The half this page computes is the 35 percent. The other half is need, which the court finds on evidence - the standard of living during the marriage, the age and employability of the party asking, the duration of the marriage and the rest of the factors in s. 61.08(3). No calculator can find that, so this one prints the ceiling it can derive and says which half is missing. Where a court finds need below the ceiling, the need figure governs.

Section 61.08(9) adds a second restraint that is easy to miss: an award may not leave the paying party with significantly less net income than the recipient unless the court makes written findings of exceptional circumstances.

The length of an award, which the marriage decides

Section 61.08(5) sorts marriages into three bands: under 10 years is short-term, 10 to 20 is moderate-term, and 20 years or longer is long-term. Section 61.08(8)(b) then caps a durational award at 50 percent of the length of a short-term marriage, 60 percent of a moderate-term one and 75 percent of a long-term one. A court may extend the term beyond that ceiling, but only on clear and convincing evidence of exceptional circumstances, so the ceiling is what the ordinary case runs into.

The length of a marriage is not however long the parties lived together: s. 61.08(5) defines it as the period from the date of the marriage to the date the dissolution was filed. A durational award is not available at all after a marriage of less than 3 years (s. 61.08(8)(a)).

Two forms of alimony have a length ceiling and no amount rule. Bridge-the-gap alimony may not exceed 2 years and rehabilitative alimony may not exceed 5 (s. 61.08(6) and (7)(c)); what each is worth is left to the court, so those two rows in the table above show a length and deliberately no amount. Only the durational row and the amount ceiling are computed from your figures.

What this page asks you for, and what it will not do

It asks for two net incomes and the length of the marriage. Net income is defined by a different statute from the one this page is built on - s. 61.30(2) and (3), where the exemptions and deductions live - so the fields take the figure and the page does not derive it. The same sentence excludes any spousal support already ordered in this action.

It does not model which party pays, since the statute works on the difference between the two. It does not model property division, retirement accounts or the way the payments are taxed. And it does not model the forms of alimony whose amount the statute leaves open: Florida repealed permanent alimony for cases filed on or after 1 July 2023, and of the forms that remain, this page covers the amount ceiling and the length ceilings the 2026 statute actually prints.

What Illinois computes, since it is a different shape

Florida caps an amount that starts from the difference between two incomes; Illinois names the figure outright. Section 504(b-1)(1)(A) of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act computes guideline maintenance as 33 1/3 percent of the payor’s net annual income minus 25 percent of the payee’s, then caps the result so the payee never keeps more than 40 percent of the parties’ combined net income - the smaller of the two figures wins. That is why the Illinois panel asks for income in annual rather than monthly terms: the statute states its formula per year.

The same section gates whether the formula runs at all. It only applies while the parties’ combined gross annual income is under $500,000 and the payor has no maintenance obligation from a prior relationship; outside that the award turns on the non-guidelines factors in s. 504(b-2), which have no number to apply, so the page says the formula does not fit rather than inventing a figure.

The duration is not a set of marriage bands but a lookup: the marriage in years is multiplied by a factor that steps from 0.20 for a marriage under 5 years up to 0.80 for one of 19 to 20 years (s. 504(b-1)(1)(B)). At 20 years or more the factors stop and the court chooses between the full length of the marriage and an indefinite term - the page reports that turn rather than a month count.

Worked examples

Each example below was run through the calculator on this page when the site was built, so the numbers match what you see when you enter the same inputs.

A short marriage, $6,000 against $2,000 a month

Higher monthly income: $6,000.00 · Other party’s monthly income: $2,000.00 · Length of the marriage (years): 8

Florida’s ceiling for durational alimony

$1,400.00 a month

35% of $4,000, the difference between the two net incomes, under Florida Statutes s. 61.08. It is a ceiling on the amount and not an award: the statute takes the lesser of that figure and the obligee’s need, and need is a fact a court finds rather than something this page can derive.

The difference: $4,000 · A year at that ceiling: $16,800.00 · The marriage: short-term marriage · Longest durational award: 4 years

The difference is $4,000, so the amount ceiling is $1,400 a month. A marriage of 8 years is short-term, so a durational award may run up to 50 percent of it - 4 years.

A long marriage, $9,000 against $7,000 a month

Higher monthly income: $9,000.00 · Other party’s monthly income: $7,000.00 · Length of the marriage (years): 22

Florida’s ceiling for durational alimony

$700.00 a month

35% of $2,000, the difference between the two net incomes, under Florida Statutes s. 61.08. It is a ceiling on the amount and not an award: the statute takes the lesser of that figure and the obligee’s need, and need is a fact a court finds rather than something this page can derive.

The difference: $2,000 · A year at that ceiling: $8,400.00 · The marriage: long-term marriage · Longest durational award: 16 years 6 months

The difference is small, so the ceiling is small - $700 a month - even though the marriage is long. Length and amount come from different parts of the statute, and one does not raise the other.

Illinois: $72,000 against $24,000 a year

State: Illinois · Length of the marriage (years): 8 · Payor’s net annual income: $72,000.00 · Payee’s net annual income: $24,000.00 · Combined gross annual income: $150,000.00 · The payor owes support from a prior relationship: No

Illinois’s guideline maintenance

$1,200.00 a month

$14,400 a year: 33 1/3% of the payor's net annual income minus 25% of the payee's, brought down by the ceiling that keeps the payee at no more than 40% of combined net income ($14,400) - s. 504(b-1)(1)(A). This is the guideline figure, not an order: a court can still depart from it, or bar maintenance entirely, under s. 504(a).

Payor net annual: $72,000 · Payee net annual: $24,000 · The guideline term: 2 years 11 months · The payee-side ceiling: $14,400

The formula is 33 1/3% of $72,000 minus 25% of $24,000 - $18,000 - but the 40% cap on the payee’s share pulls it to $14,400 a year ($1,200 a month). An 8-year marriage takes the 0.36 factor, or 35 months.

A 20-year marriage, $15,000 against $5,000 a month

Higher monthly income: $15,000.00 · Other party’s monthly income: $5,000.00 · Length of the marriage (years): 20

Florida’s ceiling for durational alimony

$3,500.00 a month

35% of $10,000, the difference between the two net incomes, under Florida Statutes s. 61.08. It is a ceiling on the amount and not an award: the statute takes the lesser of that figure and the obligee’s need, and need is a fact a court finds rather than something this page can derive.

The difference: $10,000 · A year at that ceiling: $42,000.00 · The marriage: long-term marriage · Longest durational award: 15 years

The $10,000 difference gives a $2,000 monthly ceiling, and a 20-year marriage sits in the long-term band, where the award is no longer described as a share of the marriage length.

Frequently asked questions

Is this what a court will order?

No. It is the ceiling the statute puts on one form of alimony, computed from the two figures you type. The award itself turns on need and on the factors in s. 61.08(3), and a court may order less - or a shorter term, or a different form of alimony altogether. Treat the number as the point above which the arithmetic stops deciding anything.

Why can I not choose my state?

Because most states print no formula for alimony. Their statutes list the factors a court weighs - income, earning ability, the standard of living during the marriage, the age of the parties - and leave the amount to the judge, so there is no table to apply and nothing for a calculator to do. Ohio Revised Code 3105.18 and K.S.A. 23-2902 are two sections that read that way. This page names states like that instead of offering them and inventing a figure; where a state does print a formula and it has been read from an official page, that state gets added.

Does the length of the marriage change the amount?

Not in Florida. The 35 percent in s. 61.08(8)(c) is taken from the difference between the two net incomes, and the length of the marriage never enters that arithmetic; it decides only how long an award may run. Change the years field and the amount ceiling will not move - that is the statute, not a field that failed to update.

What does Illinois compute differently?

It computes the amount outright, not a ceiling. Section 504(b-1)(1)(A) sets guideline maintenance as 33 1/3% of the payor’s net annual income minus 25% of the payee’s, capped so the payee never keeps more than 40% of combined net income - the smaller of the formula and the cap stands. The length is the marriage multiplied by a factor that steps from 20% up to 80% (s. 504(b-1)(1)(B)), and the formula only runs below $500,000 of combined gross annual income with no prior-relationship obligation; outside that it goes to the non-guidelines factors, which this page cannot compute.

What is net income here, and does child support come out of it?

Net income for this section is defined by s. 61.30(2) and (3) - the section the child support statute uses - and the one thing the alimony sentence says on its own is that any spousal support already ordered in this action is excluded. Child support is a separate obligation worked out under its own schedule, and this page does not net it out or take account of it at all.

Why does the page not tell me who pays?

Because the statute does not care: it measures the difference between the two net incomes and caps an award against it. That is also why the two income fields can be filled in either order without changing the answer, and why the panel says so when it notices you put them the other way round.

Assumptions and sources

  • The Florida Legislature, “Florida Statutes, F.S. 61.08 - Alimony” (2026 edition) - the amount ceiling in (8)(c), the marriage bands in (5), the length shares in (8)(b), the 3-year floor in (8)(a) and the two fixed ceilings in (6) and (7)(c). It was read from leg.state.fl.us, verified against the official text and kept on record; every one of those figures matches the official text.
  • The Illinois General Assembly, “750 ILCS 5 - Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act” (as amended by P.A. 103-967, eff. 1-1-25) - the 33 1/3% minus 25% amount formula and the 40% cap on the payee’s share in s. 504(b-1)(1)(A), the duration table from 0.20 to 0.80 in (B), the $500,000 combined-gross and prior-obligation gates in (1), and the 20-years-or-more turn in (B). It was read on 2026-09-24, verified against the official text and kept on record; every figure matches the official text.
  • No page we had already kept named that statute, so the route to it is written down rather than implied: the section was first located, then read in full from the official text. Every number on the page comes from that text.
  • The General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, “General Law - Part II, Title III, Chapter 208, Section 53 - Determination of form, amount and duration of alimony” - the amount ceiling in §53(b) (“30 to 35 per cent of the difference between the parties’ gross incomes”, the lesser of that and the recipient’s need), and the General Term duration ladder in Section 49(b) (50 / 60 / 70 / 80 per cent by band up to 20 years) with the indefinite turn in §49(c) for marriages over 20 years. Read directly from malegislature.gov and kept on record, both the amount section and the duration section; every figure matches the official text.
  • Cited by section only, with no figure from either anywhere on this page: Ohio Revised Code 3105.18 and K.S.A. 23-2902. Both were read the same way and both state no formula, which is the reason they are named: a visitor from one of those states is owed the answer that no table exists, rather than a sentence about their state being “not covered yet”.
  • Not modelled: need, which is the other half of the amount test; net income as s. 61.30(2) and (3) define it; the exceptional-circumstances extension in s. 61.08(8)(b); the Massachusetts types other than General Term (Reimbursement, which §53(b) explicitly exempts from the formula, and the amount-less Rehabilitative and Transitional ceilings); the §53(e) deviation factors and the §53(g) combined alimony-plus-child-support duration cap; property division, retirement and the tax treatment of payments; and the forms of alimony whose amount the statute leaves open.

Last reviewed 2026-10-30. An estimate, not a return, and not tax advice. Read the full disclaimer.

Where a figure on this page comes from an official agency — HUD, IRS, FICO or a state body — the site keeps a dated snapshot of the source page in its sources library, and a scheduled job re-checks that snapshot, so the number can be traced back to the document it came from.

Related tools

Child Support CalculatorIncome & PayrollChild support from state guideline tables: shares, brackets, combined-income schedules, or a piecewise formula (Ohio, Michigan) - every figure sourced from an official page.Estimate child support →Income Tax CalculatorTaxesSee federal income tax bracket by bracket for 2026, plus FICA and state tax, and what a raise really adds to your tax bill.Estimate income tax →Debt-to-Income CalculatorDebt & CreditWork out your debt-to-income ratio the way a lender does, see the room left before the 43% line most lenders still use as a guideline, and test a new loan before you apply.Calculate debt-to-income ratio →Cost of Living CalculatorIncome & PayrollCompare one pay across two places using BEA price parities: what the same standard of living costs, and which category of spending drives the difference.Compare cost of living →Additional Medicare Tax CalculatorIncome & PayrollWork out the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax: the $200,000, $250,000 and $125,000 thresholds, what an employer withholds and what a joint return adds together.Price the 0.9% Medicare surtax →Bonus Tax CalculatorIncome & PayrollSee what is withheld from a 2026 bonus: 22% flat on supplemental wages up to $1,000,000 for the year, 37% above it, and what actually reaches you.See what is withheld from a bonus →