New Jersey Alimony Laws: Open Durational Alimony and the 2014 Reform (2026)

New Jersey replaced permanent alimony with "open durational alimony" in 2014. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23, open durational alimony is reserved for marriages of 20 or more years. For marriages under 20 years, alimony generally may not exceed the length of the marriage itself.

Information last verified on June 1, 2026.

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What is alimony in New Jersey?

In New Jersey, alimony is a court-ordered payment from one spouse to the other following a divorce or dissolution of a civil union. It is governed exclusively by N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23, part of Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes.

Alimony is not automatic. A spouse must request it, and the court determines whether to award it, in what amount, and for how long based on a set of statutory factors. The purpose is to address the economic impact of the marriage and to allow both parties to maintain a reasonably comparable standard of living to the one established during the marriage, to the extent both parties' incomes allow.

Alimony is entirely separate from child support. Child support is calculated under the New Jersey Child Support Guidelines and is based on the parents' incomes and the children's needs. Alimony is set first, and the amount is then factored into the child support calculation as income to the recipient.

The 2014 reform: open durational vs. permanent alimony

Before September 10, 2014, New Jersey law permitted "permanent alimony," which had no set end date and could continue for the rest of the recipient's life. The Alimony Reform Act, P.L. 2014, c. 42, signed into law on September 10, 2014, amended N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23 and removed the term permanent alimony from the statute entirely.

In its place, the law created "open durational alimony." The name signals an important change: the award remains open in the sense that it does not have a fixed end date set at the time of divorce, but it is not permanent in the old sense. Open durational alimony can be modified or terminated when circumstances change, and it carries a built-in rebuttable presumption of termination when the payer reaches full retirement age.

Open durational alimony is only available for marriages and civil unions of 20 or more years. For shorter marriages, the statute imposes a durational cap on alimony tied to the length of the marriage (see below).

The 2014 reform also made it easier to modify or terminate alimony based on the payer's job loss, income reduction, or retirement, and it added specific cohabitation rules that did not exist before. It did not, however, change every rule retroactively: alimony orders and written agreements established before the Act took effect are governed by a different retirement standard, described below.

The types of alimony under N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23

New Jersey recognizes five types of alimony. Courts may award more than one type in the same case.

Open durational alimony

Open durational alimony is the post-2014 successor to permanent alimony. It is available only when the marriage or civil union lasted 20 or more years. It does not have a built-in end date at the time of the award, but the court can still set a termination date if circumstances warrant. The rebuttable presumption of termination at the payer's full retirement age applies to open durational alimony.

Limited duration alimony

Limited duration alimony applies to marriages and civil unions under 20 years. The court sets a specific end date at the time of the award. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23, for any marriage or civil union less than 20 years in duration, the total duration of alimony shall not, except in exceptional circumstances, exceed the length of the marriage or civil union. A 10-year marriage, for example, generally cannot produce an alimony award lasting longer than 10 years.

Courts may exceed the marriage-length cap in exceptional circumstances. The statute does not define "exceptional circumstances" with a fixed list, leaving that determination to the judge based on the specific facts of the case.

Rehabilitative alimony

Rehabilitative alimony is temporary support designed to help the recipient return to the workforce or complete education or training. The recipient must present a rehabilitation plan that describes the scope of rehabilitation, the specific steps to be taken, and the anticipated time frame, including any period of employment during the rehabilitation.

Courts can modify rehabilitative alimony based on a change in circumstances or based on the failure of anticipated circumstances to materialize. The statute explicitly permits modification on either ground.

Reimbursement alimony

Reimbursement alimony may be awarded when one spouse financially supported the other through an advanced education or professional degree during the marriage, with the expectation of sharing in the enhanced earning capacity that the degree would generate. Unlike other forms of alimony, reimbursement alimony cannot be modified for any reason once it is ordered.

Pendente lite alimony

Pendente lite alimony is temporary support paid during the pendency of the divorce or dissolution proceedings. It ends when the court enters a final alimony order at the conclusion of the case. Pendente lite support is intended to maintain the economic status quo while the divorce is being resolved.

How much and how long: no formula and the statutory factors

New Jersey courts do not use a formula to calculate alimony amounts. There is no percentage-of-income rule or chart. Instead, N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(b) requires the court to consider all of the following factors before setting any alimony award:

• The actual need and ability of the parties to pay
• The duration of the marriage or civil union
• The age, physical and emotional health of the parties
• The standard of living established in the marriage and the likelihood each party can maintain a reasonably comparable standard, with neither party having a greater entitlement than the other
• The earning capacities, educational levels, vocational skills, and employability of both parties
• The length of time the party seeking alimony has been absent from the job market
• The parental responsibilities for the children
• The time and expense necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the party seeking alimony to find appropriate employment, the availability of training and employment, and the opportunity for future acquisitions of capital assets and income
• The parties' history of financial and non-financial contributions to the marriage, including contributions to the care and education of children and any interruption of personal careers or educational opportunities
• The equitable distribution of property ordered and any payouts on equitable distribution made from current income
• The income available to either party through investment of assets held by that party
• The tax treatment and consequences to both parties of any alimony award, including whether all or part of the payment is designated as non-taxable
• The nature, amount, and length of any pendente lite support paid
• Any other factors the court finds relevant

No single factor is controlling. The court is required to address each applicable factor on the record and explain how it weighed those factors in reaching its decision.

For limited duration alimony, the statute also requires the court to separately address the length of the award and the amount. Neither component is determined automatically by the factors; both require an independent analysis.

When alimony ends or changes

Retirement age presumption

Under N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(j)(1), there is a rebuttable presumption that alimony terminates when the paying spouse reaches full retirement age as defined by 42 U.S.C. section 416 (the Social Security Act). Full retirement age under Social Security is currently 67 for individuals born in 1960 or later.

The presumption is rebuttable. A recipient seeking to continue alimony past the payer's full retirement age must overcome the presumption by showing good cause. Courts consider a specific list of factors in that determination, including: the ages of the parties at the time of the retirement application; the ages of the parties at the time of the marriage and at the time the alimony order was entered; the degree and duration of the recipient's economic dependency during the marriage; whether the recipient gave up claims or property in exchange for a larger or longer alimony award; the duration and amount of alimony already paid; the health of both parties; the assets of both parties; whether the recipient has also reached full retirement age; and the sources of income, earned and unearned, available to each party.

The presumption does not apply to orders that predate the 2014 Act. N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(j)(3) sets a separate standard for a retirement application filed where there is an existing final alimony order or enforceable written agreement established before the Act took effect on September 10, 2014. In those cases the payer's reaching full retirement age is "deemed a good faith retirement age," but there is no presumption of termination. Instead, the burden runs the other way: the court considers the recipient's ability to have saved adequately for retirement, plus a list of factors including the ages and health of the parties at the time of the application, the generally accepted retirement age in the payer's field, when the payer becomes eligible to retire at their place of employment, the payer's motives in retiring, the parties' reasonable expectations about retirement during the marriage and at the time of divorce, the payer's ability to keep paying after retirement, and the recipient's financial independence and the impact of the retirement on them. The payer must show by a preponderance of the evidence that modification or termination is appropriate.

Arrearages that accrued before the termination date are not vacated or annulled by the termination of future alimony.

Cohabitation

Alimony may be suspended or terminated if the recipient cohabits with another person. New Jersey defines cohabitation broadly: it is a mutually supportive, intimate personal relationship in which the couple has undertaken duties and privileges commonly associated with marriage or civil union, but the couple does not necessarily maintain a single common household.

When a payer raises cohabitation, the court weighs several factors: intertwined finances such as joint accounts or joint liabilities; sharing or joint responsibility for living expenses; recognition of the relationship in the couple's social and family circle; living together, frequency of contact, duration of the relationship, and other indicia of a mutually supportive intimate personal relationship; sharing of household chores; and whether the recipient has received an enforceable promise of support from another person.

The court also considers the length of the relationship. Importantly, a court may not find an absence of cohabitation solely because the couple does not live together on a full-time basis.

Remarriage and death

Remarriage does not end every kind of alimony. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:34-25, if a former spouse remarries or a former partner enters a new civil union after the judgment of divorce or dissolution, permanent and limited duration alimony terminates as of the date of the remarriage or new civil union. Arrearages that accrued before that date are not vacated or annulled. The recipient must promptly inform the paying spouse or partner and the collecting agency, if any; a recipient who fails to give that notice can be ordered to pay the payer's reasonable attorney fees and court costs.

Rehabilitative and reimbursement alimony are expressly carved out. The statute provides that the remarriage or new civil union of a recipient of rehabilitative or reimbursement alimony is not cause for the court to terminate that alimony unless the court finds that the circumstances on which the award was based have not occurred, or unless the payer demonstrates an agreement or good cause to the contrary. Note that the termination clause names permanent and limited duration alimony; it does not use the term open durational alimony that the 2014 Act added to N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23(b).

On death, the statute is narrower than it is often described. N.J.S.A. 2A:34-25 provides that alimony terminates upon the death of the payer spouse or partner, again without vacating arrearages that accrued before that date. The section does not address the recipient's death. It also expressly preserves the court's power to order either spouse or partner to maintain life insurance for the protection of the former spouse, partner, or the children in the event of the payer's death.

Because these rules can be varied by agreement, check the language of your own judgment of divorce or marital settlement agreement before assuming alimony has ended.

Modification on changed circumstances

Either party may seek modification of alimony upon a substantial change in circumstances. Common grounds include a significant change in either party's income or employment, serious illness or disability, or the payer's involuntary job loss. The court may also modify or terminate alimony when a payer retires, even before reaching full retirement age, provided the retirement is in good faith and the financial circumstances warrant relief.

Is alimony taxable, and how it differs from New Jersey child support

Federal tax treatment

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 changed the federal tax treatment of alimony for divorce agreements executed after December 31, 2018. Under IRS Topic 452, alimony paid under a post-2018 agreement is not deductible by the payer and is not included in the recipient's gross income. Both parties must still provide the other's Social Security number to the IRS.

For agreements executed on or before December 31, 2018, the old rules apply: the payer deducts alimony payments and the recipient reports them as taxable income. A pre-2019 agreement may lose its deductibility if it is later modified and the modification expressly states that the new federal treatment applies.

New Jersey diverges from federal law on alimony taxation, and it does so through two separate statutes. N.J.S.A. 54A:5-1(n) supplies the income side: New Jersey gross income includes alimony and separate maintenance payments to the extent they are required under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance, but not payments for the support of minor children. N.J.S.A. 54A:3-2 supplies the deduction side: it allows the payer a deduction for amounts includible under 54A:5-1(n) with respect to payments included as income in the return of a former spouse or a spouse receiving separate maintenance under a court decree. Together they apply regardless of when the divorce agreement was executed, which is the opposite of the federal post-2018 TCJA treatment: New Jersey does not conform to the federal change that eliminated the deduction and the inclusion. One exception recognized by New Jersey courts: if both parties agree in their marital settlement agreement that the payer will not claim the state deduction, the recipient may not be required to report the income. Consult a tax professional for guidance specific to your situation.

How alimony differs from child support

Alimony and child support serve different purposes and follow entirely different legal frameworks. Alimony addresses the financial relationship between the former spouses. Child support addresses the needs of dependent children.

In New Jersey, child support is calculated using the New Jersey Child Support Guidelines, which rely on both parents' incomes, parenting time, and certain expenses. Courts set alimony first and then treat it as income to the recipient when calculating child support.

Child support is never deductible by the payer and is never taxable income to the recipient under federal or New Jersey law, regardless of when the divorce agreement was signed.

For more information about how New Jersey calculates support for children, see New Jersey child support laws.

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For a comparison across all states, see Alimony laws by state.

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Disclaimer: This page provides general legal information about New Jersey alimony law and does not constitute legal advice. Alimony decisions are highly fact-specific and depend on circumstances that only a licensed New Jersey family law attorney can evaluate. Nothing on this page creates an attorney-client relationship.

Last updated: June 1, 2026.

More New Jersey Laws

• New Jersey Child Custody Laws
• New Jersey Child Support Laws
• New Jersey Common Law Marriage Laws
• New Jersey Divorce Laws