Washington Alimony: How RCW 26.09.090 Maintenance Works

Washington has no formula for alimony. Under RCW 26.09.090, a judge may order maintenance (Washington’s word for alimony or spousal support) to either spouse “in such amounts and for such periods of time as the court deems just,” after weighing all relevant factors, including six the statute lists, and without regard to misconduct.

Unless the decree or a written agreement says otherwise, maintenance ends when either party dies or when the person receiving it remarries or registers a new domestic partnership. Between those points, it can usually be modified only on a showing of a substantial change of circumstances. The rest of this guide explains how each of those rules works in a Clark County case.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and creates no attorney-client relationship. For the wider picture see our guides to Washington divorce, property division and support and community property under RCW 26.16, and our family law practice.

Table of Contents

• ➤ No Statewide Formula
• ➤ The Six Factors in RCW 26.09.090
• ➤ Fault Does Not Count
• ➤ Temporary Maintenance While the Case Is Pending
• ➤ How Long Maintenance Lasts
• ➤ How Maintenance Fits With Property and Child Support
• ➤ Modification and Termination Under RCW 26.09.170
• ➤ Agreed Maintenance and Non-Modifiable Terms
• ➤ Maintenance in a Legal Separation
• ➤ Federal Tax Treatment After 2018
• ➤ Maintenance in Clark County Superior Court
• ➤ Frequently Asked Questions
• ➤ Talk to a BFQ Law Washington Attorney

No Statewide Formula

Child support in Washington runs on a statutory schedule and standard worksheets. Maintenance does not. There is no table, no percentage of income and no statutory cap on amount or length. RCW 26.09.090 gives the court a list of factors, says the list is “not limited to” those factors, and leaves the amount and duration to what the court “deems just.”

That has two practical consequences. First, online alimony calculators and rules of thumb do not reflect any Washington statute, and a number produced by one is not a prediction of what a Clark County judge will order. Second, because the outcome is discretionary, evidence matters: pay records, budgets, work history, health records and what the household actually spent.

Maintenance is also not automatic. The statute says the court may grant a maintenance order for either spouse or either domestic partner. Many Washington divorces end with none.

The Six Factors in RCW 26.09.090

The court must consider “all relevant factors including but not limited to” the six in RCW 26.09.090(1). In plain terms:

Factor	What the statute says	What it usually means in practice
(a) Financial resources of the requesting spouse	Including separate or community property apportioned to them, their ability to meet their needs independently, and whether child support for a child living with them includes a sum for them	The property award and any child support are counted first; maintenance fills a gap, if one remains
(b) Time to get education or training	Time needed to acquire enough education or training to find appropriate employment	Supports a defined period of maintenance tied to a realistic return-to-work plan
(c) Standard of living during the marriage	The standard of living established during the marriage or domestic partnership	The marital lifestyle is a reference point, not a guarantee
(d) Duration of the marriage	The duration of the marriage or domestic partnership	Often one of the heaviest factors in how long any award runs
(e) Age, health and obligations of the requesting spouse	Age, physical and emotional condition, and financial obligations	Health problems or age can limit realistic earning capacity
(f) The paying spouse’s ability to pay	Ability to meet their own needs and obligations while meeting those of the requesting spouse	Need alone is not enough; the order has to be affordable

Factors (a) and (f) are the two ends of the same question: how much does the requesting spouse need after accounting for everything else they receive, and how much can the other spouse pay while still meeting their own needs. The other four factors shape the answer and, especially, how long it lasts.

Fault Does Not Count

RCW 26.09.090 directs the court to set maintenance “without regard to misconduct.” The property statute, RCW 26.09.080, uses the same words. An affair, or who ended the marriage, is not a reason to award or deny maintenance in Washington.

Economic facts still count. Running up debt or draining accounts changes the financial resources the factors look at; moral blame does not.

Temporary Maintenance While the Case Is Pending

A Washington divorce cannot be finalized until at least 90 days have passed from filing and service, under RCW 26.09.030, and contested cases often take much longer. RCW 26.09.060 lets either party move for temporary maintenance while the case is pending.

Key features of a temporary maintenance request:

• A sworn statement is required. The motion must be accompanied by an affidavit setting out the factual basis and the amounts requested.
• The standard is “just and proper.” The court may order temporary maintenance “in such amounts and on such terms as are just and proper in the circumstances.”
• It does not decide the final outcome. A temporary order does not prejudice the rights to be decided at later hearings, may be revoked or modified, and ends when the final decree is entered or the case is dismissed.
• Check what the decree says about unpaid amounts. Under RCW 26.09.060(11), delinquent payments accrued under an order for temporary support remain collectible after the final decree unless the decree contains specific language to the contrary. Address any unpaid temporary maintenance expressly in the final orders.

The statewide pattern forms are the Motion for Temporary Family Law Order and Restraining Order (FL Divorce 223) and the Temporary Family Law Order (FL Divorce 224), with a Financial Declaration (FL All Family 131) supporting the numbers. They are listed on the Washington Courts list of all court forms. The temporary order often sets the financial pattern for months, so the financial declaration deserves the same care as a trial exhibit.

How Long Maintenance Lasts

The statute sets no minimum or maximum duration. It says “for such periods of time as the court deems just,” and it lists the duration of the marriage and the time needed for education or training as factors. Everything beyond that is case-by-case, and any statement that Washington maintenance lasts a fixed fraction of the marriage is a rule of thumb, not a rule of law.

The factors suggest how duration arguments are usually framed:

Situation	Factor most in play	How the argument tends to be framed
Short marriage, both spouses employable	(d) duration, (a) own resources	Little or no maintenance, or a brief transition period
Spouse returning to work after time out of the workforce	(b) education or training	A defined term matched to a realistic training or job-search plan
Long marriage with a large income gap	(c) standard of living, (d) duration	Longer maintenance, sometimes with a step-down schedule
Age or health limits earning capacity	(e) age and condition	Longer duration, because self-support may not be realistic

This describes how the factors are commonly argued, not a schedule courts follow. Whatever the term, the decree should state the end date or the event that ends payments.

How Maintenance Fits With Property and Child Support

Maintenance is never decided in isolation. RCW 26.09.090(1)(a) tells the court to look at the requesting spouse’s financial resources “including separate or community property apportioned to him or her.” In practice, that means the property division under RCW 26.09.080 comes first in the analysis, and maintenance is measured against what is left.

A larger property share can reduce the need for maintenance; a house with no income-producing assets can increase it. Because property awards are generally final while maintenance can be modified, the trade-off deserves thought before agreeing to either.

Child support interacts in both directions. The same factor (a) asks whether child support for a child living with the requesting spouse already includes a sum for that spouse. And the child support statute, RCW 26.19.071, counts “maintenance actually received” in the recipient’s gross income (RCW 26.19.071(3)(q)) and deducts “court-ordered maintenance to the extent actually paid” from the payer’s gross income to reach net income (RCW 26.19.071(5)(g)). The maintenance figure therefore feeds the child support worksheet whenever support is set, adjusted or modified. For the support side, see our guide to child support, modification and enforcement in Vancouver.

Attorney fees are a related lever. Under RCW 26.09.140, the court may, after considering the financial resources of both parties, order one party to pay a reasonable amount toward the other’s attorney fees and costs, including in later modification or enforcement proceedings.

Modification and Termination Under RCW 26.09.170

RCW 26.09.170 sets the rules for changing or ending maintenance after the decree.

Event	Effect under RCW 26.09.170
Substantial change of circumstances	Maintenance may be modified, but only as to installments accruing after the petition for modification is filed, and not where an agreed decree precludes or limits modification under RCW 26.09.070(7)
Death of either party	Future maintenance terminates, unless otherwise agreed in writing or expressly provided in the decree
Remarriage of the recipient	Future maintenance terminates, unless otherwise agreed in writing or expressly provided in the decree
Recipient registers a new domestic partnership	Same as remarriage
Request to change the property division	Not modifiable, unless conditions exist that would justify reopening a judgment

First, timing: a modification reaches only installments accruing after the petition is filed, so a payer who loses a job should file promptly rather than stop paying.

Second, the automatic termination events are exactly what the statute lists: death of either party, and remarriage or a new registered domestic partnership of the recipient. Cohabitation with a new partner is not on that list. Whether it amounts to a substantial change of circumstances is a separate argument, made on the facts.

Third, every one of those defaults can be changed by the parties’ written agreement or by express language in the decree. A decree can provide that maintenance continues after remarriage, or that it survives the payer’s death. That is why the termination language in a proposed decree deserves careful reading.

Agreed Maintenance and Non-Modifiable Terms

Maintenance is often agreed rather than ordered after trial, frequently through mediation (see how mediation works in Washington). RCW 26.09.070 allows spouses to enter a written separation contract providing for the maintenance of either of them. That contract binds the court unless the court finds, after considering the parties’ economic circumstances and other relevant evidence, that it was unfair at the time it was signed.

Agreements also open an option a judge would not otherwise impose. Under RCW 26.09.070(7), when the separation contract so provides, the decree may expressly preclude or limit modification of maintenance. A non-modifiable term gives both sides certainty, but it removes the safety valve: if the payer’s income collapses or the recipient’s health fails, the ordinary substantial-change route may be closed.

Terms set out or incorporated in the decree can be enforced by all remedies available for enforcing a judgment, including contempt, and are also enforceable as contract terms.

Maintenance in a Legal Separation

RCW 26.09.090 applies to proceedings for legal separation as well as divorce, so a court can order maintenance in a legal separation using the same factors.

A legal separation is not necessarily permanent. Under RCW 26.09.150(2)(a), no earlier than six months after a decree of legal separation is entered, either party may move to convert it to a decree of dissolution, and the court shall do so. Anyone negotiating maintenance in a legal separation should ask how the terms will read if the decree is later converted.

Federal Tax Treatment After 2018

The 2017 federal tax law (Pub. L. 115-97, often called the TCJA) repealed the alimony deduction in 26 U.S.C. § 215. As IRS Publication 504 explains:

• For an instrument executed after 2018, maintenance paid is not deductible by the payer.
• For an instrument executed after 2018, maintenance received is not included in the income of the recipient.
• Instruments executed before 2019 keep the old treatment (deductible to the payer, taxable to the recipient), unless modified after 2018 with language that expressly adopts the new rule.

For a decree entered today, the payer pays maintenance with after-tax dollars, so the same monthly figure costs more than under an older decree. Child support is neither deductible nor taxable and is not alimony. Get tax advice before modifying a pre-2019 order.

Maintenance in Clark County Superior Court

For Vancouver, Camas, Battle Ground, Ridgefield and the rest of Clark County, maintenance is decided in Clark County Superior Court at the Clark County Courthouse, 1200 Franklin St., Vancouver. The court runs commissioner family law dockets, which is where many temporary motions are heard, and hearings may be held remotely.

Clark County also uses judicial settlement conferences in family law cases under its local administrative rule LAR 0.9(k). A conference may be set any time after the case is filed and no later than 45 days before trial, and each party must supply a confidential settlement conference statement at least 10 days beforehand.

If one spouse lives or works in Oregon, the first question may be which state’s court decides the case at all. Oregon calls the same payment “spousal support” and applies its own statute. See our guide to Washington vs Oregon divorce jurisdiction.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is alimony mandatory in Washington? No. RCW 26.09.090 says the court may grant maintenance. Whether it does depends on the statutory factors, chiefly need and ability to pay.

Does an affair affect alimony in Washington? No. Maintenance is set without regard to misconduct. Financial conduct that changes the numbers is a different matter.

Does maintenance end if my ex moves in with someone? Not automatically. RCW 26.09.170 ends maintenance on death of either party or the recipient’s remarriage or new registered domestic partnership, unless the decree or a written agreement says otherwise. Cohabitation may support a modification request, but it must be argued.

Is maintenance taxable? Not under federal law for divorce or separation instruments executed after 2018, or for older instruments modified after 2018 with language expressly adopting the new rule: no deduction for the payer and no income for the recipient, per IRS Publication 504.

Talk to a BFQ Law Washington Attorney

A maintenance claim, on either side, comes down to need, ability to pay, and how long the gap between them is likely to last, all measured against the property division and any child support. Building that case from documents rather than estimates is what makes a negotiated number possible.

Read about our attorneys and legal team, or our guides to community property in a Washington divorce and parenting plans under RCW 26.09. Reach us through our contact page. Nothing here promises an outcome, and any maintenance award depends on the facts of your own case.