The 10-year rule in a Texas divorce lets a spouse ask a judge for spousal maintenance after a marriage of 10 years or longer. It comes from Texas Family Code Section 8.051. It applies only when that spouse will lack enough property to meet minimum reasonable needs and can’t earn enough income to cover them. Reaching ten years opens the door to asking. It doesn’t promise a monthly check.
The phrase also gets tangled up with two federal rules that have nothing to do with Texas alimony. One is the Social Security rule for divorced spouses. The other is the military 10/10 rule for retired pay. If you’re facing a divorce in Texas after close to a decade of marriage, it helps to know which “10-year rule” someone means. Here is how each one works, starting with the one a Texas judge actually applies.
What the 10-year rule in a Texas divorce actually says
Texas calls court-ordered alimony “spousal maintenance.” Some people still call it spousal support. The rules live in Chapter 8 of the Texas Family Code. Under Section 8.051, a spouse married 10 years or longer may ask for maintenance only if two things are true at the same time.
First, the spouse will lack sufficient property, including their own separate property, to cover basic needs after the divorce. The statute calls these minimum reasonable needs. That means the court looks at what you walk away with, not just your paycheck. A large share of the community estate can defeat a maintenance request on its own.
Second, the spouse seeking maintenance lacks the ability to earn sufficient income to meet those needs. That’s a question about earning capacity, not current income. A parent who stepped out of the workforce for twelve years may qualify. A spouse who is simply between jobs often won’t.
There’s one more hurdle that catches people off guard. Section 8.053 presumes maintenance on the 10-year ground is not warranted unless the requesting spouse has shown diligence. That means real effort to earn income or build job skills while separated and while the case is pending. In plain terms, a judge wants to see you trying. Job applications, a certification course or part-time work all count as evidence. If you think this ground fits your situation, a Texas spousal maintenance attorney can help you gather that proof early.
Four paths to spousal maintenance in Texas
Under Texas Family Code Section 8.051, ten years of marriage is only one of four ways to become eligible for spousal maintenance. Every path still requires that you’ll lack enough property to meet your minimum reasonable needs. Then at least one of these has to apply:
- Family violence: the other spouse was convicted of, or got deferred adjudication for, family violence against you or your child during the marriage. The offense must have happened within two years before filing or while the case is pending.
- Disability: you can’t earn enough because of an incapacitating physical or mental disability.
- Ten-year marriage: you’ve been married 10 years or longer and lack the ability to earn enough income.
- Caring for a disabled child: you’re the custodian of a child of the marriage, of any age, whose disability requires substantial care that keeps you from earning enough.
That list explains why a shorter marriage is not automatically a dead end. A spouse married six years who was the victim of family violence, or who cares for a disabled child, can still ask. Our family violence and protective order attorneys often see the first path come up alongside a protective order.
How long maintenance can last after 10, 20 or 30 years
Once a spouse qualifies, Texas Family Code Section 8.054 caps how long maintenance can last. The limit is 5 years for a marriage of 10 to 20 years, 7 years for 20 to 30 years, and 10 years for 30 years or more. Orders based on a disability or a disabled child can last longer. The table below tracks the statute.
| Length of marriage | Eligibility ground | Longest order allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Under 10 years | Family violence | 5 years |
| 10 to 20 years | Any ground except disability or disabled child | 5 years |
| 20 to 30 years | Any ground except disability or disabled child | 7 years |
| 30 years or more | Any ground except disability or disabled child | 10 years |
| Any length | Disability, or caring for a disabled child | As long as the condition continues |
Those numbers are maximums, not defaults. The statute tells judges to use the shortest reasonable period that lets the receiving spouse become self-supporting. There’s an exception. It applies when a disability, the care of an infant or young child of the marriage, or another serious barrier keeps that spouse from earning enough. So a spouse after a 22-year marriage could receive two years of maintenance rather than seven. For disability-based orders, the court can also order periodic reviews.
How much alimony a Texas court can order
Texas Family Code Section 8.055 caps court-ordered spousal maintenance at the lesser of $5,000 a month or 20 percent of the paying spouse’s average monthly gross income. Whichever number is smaller is the limit, no matter how long the marriage lasted.
Here’s how that plays out. If the paying spouse earns an average of $9,000 a month before taxes, 20 percent is $1,800. That’s well under $5,000, so $1,800 is the most a judge could order. If the paying spouse earns $30,000 a month, 20 percent is $6,000, and the $5,000 cap controls instead.
Gross income for this purpose is broad. It includes wages, bonuses, commissions and self-employment income. It also counts rental income, interest, dividends and retirement benefits. A few things are left out, such as Social Security benefits, VA service-connected disability pay and workers’ compensation. And the cap is only a ceiling. Within it, the judge weighs the factors in Section 8.052. Those include each spouse’s financial resources, education, age and health, the effect of any child support being paid, contributions as a homemaker and any marital misconduct.
The Social Security 10-year rule is a separate rule
The Social Security 10-year rule decides whether you can collect benefits on an ex-spouse’s work record. It has nothing to do with whether a Texas court orders maintenance, and it’s where much of the confusion starts. Federal regulation 20 CFR 404.331 sets its own test. You can collect benefits on an ex-spouse’s work record only if all of these are true:
- You were married at least 10 years immediately before the divorce became final.
- You’re currently unmarried.
- You’re 62 or older.
- Your own retirement benefit is smaller than the divorced-spouse benefit.
If your ex hasn’t started benefits yet but is at least 62, you generally must have been divorced for two years.
Notice the wording. The ten years run until the divorce becomes final, not until someone files. The date the decree is signed is the date that counts for Social Security. A Texas judge doesn’t decide these benefits at all, and they don’t come out of the property division.
Military families meet a third version. Under 10 U.S.C. 1408(d)(2), the government pays a former spouse’s share of military retired pay directly only if the marriage overlapped at least 10 years of creditable service. That “10/10 rule” controls how the share gets paid. It doesn’t stop a Texas court from dividing retired pay earned during the marriage.
What ten years does not change in a Texas divorce
Ten years of marriage doesn’t entitle anyone to half of everything. Texas divides the community estate in a way the court finds “just and right” under Section 7.001, and that standard applies whether you were married two years or forty. We explain how judges apply it in our guide to community property and the just and right rule.
It also doesn’t decide who keeps a pension or a 401(k). Retirement earned during the marriage is generally community property, however long the marriage lasted. Our post on dividing a TRS pension or a business in a Texas divorce walks through how that split works.
Two other kinds of support sit outside the 10-year test. Temporary spousal support while the case is pending comes from Section 6.502, not Chapter 8. Texas courts treat it separately, so the 10-year rule doesn’t govern it. And spouses can agree to payments in a settlement that a court couldn’t order on its own. That’s often called contractual alimony, and its terms come from the agreement rather than the Chapter 8 limits.
When spousal support ends or changes
Under Section 8.056, maintenance ends automatically if either spouse dies or the receiving spouse remarries. It can also end because of a new partner. After a hearing, a court must end it if the receiving spouse lives with a romantic partner in a permanent home on a continuing basis. Payments that were already due before the end date are still owed.
Either side can ask to modify the amount under Section 8.057 by showing a material and substantial change in circumstances since the order. A modification can lower maintenance but can’t raise it above the original amount or stretch it past the original end date. And if a former spouse loses a job or becomes disabled after the divorce, that alone doesn’t create a new right to maintenance.
If your marriage is near the ten-year mark
One question we hear often from people married nine and a half years: should I wait to file? There’s no single right answer. The Texas maintenance test, the Social Security rule and the military rule each look at the calendar differently. Texas also requires at least 60 days between filing and a final divorce, which we cover in our post on the Texas 60-day waiting period. Contested cases usually take longer.
When our family law attorneys review a case near the line, we start with the exact wedding date and the likely decree date. Then we look at each spouse’s earning history and any evidence of job searching or training. We also check for any other path to eligibility, such as a disability or a disabled child. Bring dates and documents, not guesses, and the picture gets clearer fast.
This article is general information about Texas law, not legal advice for your situation. If you’d like to talk through how the 10-year rule applies to your marriage, you can request a consultation with our spousal support team. We meet with families at our offices in Austin, Buda, Bastrop, New Braunfels and Victoria, and you can reach us at (512) 400-2350.
Frequently asked questions
How many years do you have to be married to get alimony in Texas?
On the marriage-length ground, 10 years. Texas Family Code Section 8.051 also allows maintenance after a shorter marriage if the other spouse committed family violence, or if the requesting spouse has an incapacitating disability or cares for a disabled child of the marriage. In every case, the spouse must lack enough property to meet minimum reasonable needs.
Does being married 10 years mean I get half of everything in Texas?
No. Texas divides community property in a way the court finds just and right under Section 7.001, and marriage length doesn’t trigger an automatic 50/50 split. The 10-year rule only affects whether a spouse can ask for spousal maintenance.
What disqualifies you from alimony in Texas?
Having enough property, including separate property, to meet your minimum reasonable needs disqualifies you. So does the ability to earn enough income. On the 10-year ground, failing to show diligence in looking for work or building job skills during the separation also weighs against you under Section 8.053.
Can I collect Social Security on my ex-spouse’s record after 10 years of marriage?
Possibly. Under 20 CFR 404.331, the marriage must have lasted at least 10 years immediately before the divorce became final, and you must be unmarried and at least 62. A Texas divorce court doesn’t award these benefits; the Social Security Administration decides them.
Does the 10-year rule apply to temporary support during a Texas divorce?
No. Temporary support while the case is pending is ordered under Texas Family Code Section 6.502, which is separate from Chapter 8 spousal maintenance. A judge can order temporary support in a marriage of any length.