Arizona’s spousal maintenance calculator produces two ranges — a monthly amount and a duration in months — using the statewide Spousal Maintenance Guidelines the Arizona Supreme Court revised effective September 1, 2025. This guide explains what the calculator actually does, the exact duration ranges courts must use, who qualifies under A.R.S. § 25-319, and what changed in 2025.
Key Takeaways
- The calculator only runs after a court finds the requesting spouse eligible under one of the five grounds in A.R.S. § 25-319(A). It cannot be used to prove eligibility.
- The amount range comes from the receiving spouse’s share of combined household expenditures (Bureau of Labor Statistics data), minus that spouse’s own income share. Courts may deviate from the amount range with written findings.
- The duration range is fixed by marriage length — from 3–12 months for marriages under two years up to 12–144 months (or 50% of the marriage) at 16+ years. Courts cannot deviate from the duration ranges.
- The Rule of 65 (age 42+, married 16+ years, age + years married ≥ 65) moves duration to the court’s discretion.
- If combined annual income is under $44,000, the calculator’s amount range starts at zero. Arizona has no “lifetime” awards.
How Is Spousal Maintenance Calculated in Arizona?
Spousal maintenance in Arizona is calculated in six steps: the court finds eligibility, sets the family size, adds both spouses’ Spousal Maintenance Income, lets the calculator generate an amount range from expenditure data, picks a duration range based on marriage length, and then enters an award inside those ranges. The steps are set out in Section I(D) of the Arizona Spousal Maintenance Guidelines adopted by Administrative Order 2025-101.
The Guidelines exist because the Legislature amended A.R.S. § 25-319 effective September 24, 2022, and told the Supreme Court to build them. Under § 25-319(B), a court may award maintenance “only for a period of time and in an amount necessary to enable the receiving spouse to become self-sufficient.” Self-sufficiency is the whole purpose; the ranges are built to get the receiving spouse there and then stop.
Two versions of the Guidelines have now been adopted. The first took effect July 10, 2023. The revised version applies to every spousal maintenance order entered on or after September 1, 2025 — original orders and modifications alike — except default cases or where the parties agree otherwise. If your petition is filed today, the 2025 version governs.
The six steps the calculator follows
- Eligibility finding. The court decides whether at least one § 25-319(A) ground is met. No finding, no calculator.
- Family size. Both spouses plus any child either spouse is legally obligated to support and is actually supporting, counted on the date the petition is served. Adult children count only if a support obligation continues (for example, a special-needs adult child).
- Combined Spousal Maintenance Income. Each spouse’s actual income from any source before deductions, plus any income the court attributes.
- Expenditures. The calculator pulls Consumer Expenditure Survey data for a household of that size and income, adjusted for inflation, and assigns the receiving spouse a share proportional to that spouse’s share of combined income.
- Amount range. Combined expenditures minus the receiving spouse’s share equals the range. A high-income adjustment adds 1% for every $2,500 of intact family income above $175,000, capped at a 70% increase.
- Duration range and award. The court applies the marriage-length table below and enters an award consistent with both ranges.
Who Qualifies for Spousal Maintenance Under A.R.S. § 25-319?
A spouse qualifies for spousal maintenance in Arizona only if the court finds at least one of five statutory grounds. Eligibility and entitlement are different things: a spouse can be eligible under § 25-319(A) and still receive nothing if the Guidelines produce a zero range or the court deviates to zero. The five grounds, quoted from A.R.S. § 25-319(A), are that the spouse seeking maintenance:
- Lacks sufficient property, including property apportioned to that spouse, to provide for reasonable needs.
- Lacks earning ability in the labor market adequate to be self-sufficient.
- Is the parent of a child whose age or condition means the parent should not be required to seek employment outside the home.
- Made a significant contribution to the other spouse’s education, training, career or earning ability — or significantly reduced their own income or career opportunities for the other spouse’s benefit.
- Had a marriage of long duration and is of an age that may preclude gaining employment adequate to be self-sufficient.
Under § 25-319(C), a maintenance order is made without regard to marital misconduct. Who wanted the divorce, and why, does not change the calculation.
Arizona Spousal Maintenance Duration Ranges (2025 Guidelines)
Arizona courts must choose a duration range based on how many months the marriage lasted, measured from the wedding date to the date the dissolution or legal separation petition was served. Time living together before the marriage is excluded; periods of separation without a filed case are included. These are the Standard Duration Ranges in Section IV(B)(2)(a) of the Guidelines, and the statute does not authorize a court to deviate from them.
| Marriage length (to date of service) | Duration range | In years |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 24 months | 3 to 12 months | 0.25–1 year |
| 24 months to less than 60 months | 6 to 36 months | 0.5–3 years |
| 60 months to less than 120 months | 6 to 48 months | 0.5–4 years |
| 120 months to less than 192 months | 12 to 60 months | 1–5 years |
| 192 months or more (not under the Rule of 65) | 12 months up to 144 months or 50% of the marriage length, whichever is greater | 1–12+ years |
| Rule of 65 applies | Within the court’s discretion, case by case | — |
Inside the applicable range, the court sets the specific number of months using the § 25-319(B) factors: the standard of living during the marriage, marriage length, the requesting spouse’s age, employment history and health, the paying spouse’s ability to meet both households’ needs, each spouse’s contribution to the other’s career, and the time needed for education or training. Unless the court orders otherwise, the award starts on the first day of the month after the decree is entered, and temporary maintenance paid during the case does not count toward the final duration.
Duration Range & Rule of 65 Checker
Enter the marriage date, the date the petition was (or will be) served, and the age of the spouse requesting maintenance. The result applies Section IV of the 2025 Guidelines exactly. It is general information, not a prediction of any award.
What the Rule of 65 means
The Rule of 65 applies when three things are all true on the date of service: the requesting spouse is at least 42 years old, the marriage lasted at least 192 months (16 years), and the spouse’s age plus the years married equals 65 or more. When it applies, the duration is decided case by case instead of from the table. The Guidelines give the example of a 42-year-old married 23 years (42 + 23 = 65) — the Rule applies — versus a 50-year-old married 15 years (50 + 15 = 65) — it does not, because the marriage is under 16 years.
Two more exceptions exist. If the receiving spouse has a disability that prevents ever becoming self-sufficient, duration is set case by case; if the disability’s future is uncertain, the court must use a fixed term from the table and the receiving spouse can later seek to extend it. And where clear and convincing evidence shows extraordinary circumstances — a catastrophic illness, or caring for a child whose condition makes employment unreasonable — the court sets a fixed term outside the table with specific written findings.
What Counts as Income in the Arizona Spousal Maintenance Calculator?
Spousal Maintenance Income is broader than taxable income: it includes nearly every dollar a spouse receives before deductions, plus income a court decides to attribute. It is also defined separately from Child Support Income, so the two worksheets can show different figures for the same person. Section III of the Guidelines controls.
| Included in Actual Income | Not included |
|---|---|
| Salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, severance, military pay (including BAH and BAS allowances) | Child support received from the other spouse in this case for a common child |
| Self-employment and rental income after ordinary and necessary expenses (including half of self-employment tax) | Federal service-connected disability benefits of the paying spouse (A.R.S. § 25-530) |
| Pensions, retirement distributions, Social Security subject to statutory limits, annuities, trust income | Spousal maintenance the payor already pays under another court order |
| Interest, dividends, capital gains, recurring gifts, prizes, workers’ compensation, unemployment, disability benefits | Marital property divided between the spouses, except to the extent it generates income |
| Overtime regularly earned during the marriage — averaged over the three years before service | Marital debt (debt is not a calculator input at all; the court may weigh it separately) |
| Child support received from a third party for a child counted in family size |
Attributed income is income a spouse is not actually earning but the court assigns anyway, after weighing the spouse’s job skills, education, health, the local job market, and why the spouse is unemployed or underemployed. The Guidelines list situations where attribution is usually inappropriate: disability, reasonable occupational training, caring for a child with unusual needs, prohibitive childcare costs, incarceration, and retirement at full Social Security retirement age. A court may also attribute a 4% rate of return on income-producing property when it finds that equitable, and may attribute retirement-account income only once withdrawals would carry no penalty.
Two income thresholds shape the bottom of the range. If combined annual Spousal Maintenance Income is more than 80% of the state minimum wage but less than $44,000, the calculator’s amount range begins at zero, and any award must fit the paying spouse’s ability to pay. At 80% of minimum wage or less, the calculator returns zero.
What Changed in the 2025 Arizona Spousal Maintenance Guidelines?
The 2025 revision generally lowers guideline amounts at higher incomes, lengthens the maximum duration for long marriages, and tightens how income is counted. Administrative Order 2025-101, signed May 28, 2025, adopted the changes after the Supreme Court’s first-year review; the Committee on Family Court must now review the Guidelines every four years, with the next report due by March 31, 2029.
| Provision | 2023 Guidelines | 2025 Guidelines (effective Sept. 1, 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| High-income adjustment | Began at $100,000 intact family income; up to +80% | Begins at $175,000; +1% per $2,500; capped at +70% |
| Maximum duration, marriages of 16+ years (no Rule of 65) | Up to 96 months (8 years) | Up to 144 months (12 years) or 50% of the marriage, whichever is greater |
| Mortgage principal | Added into the calculation | Removed from the calculation |
| Overtime | Included when regularly earned | Included when regularly earned, averaged over the prior three years |
| Eligibility finding | Required | Required, with added emphasis that the calculator cannot be used to prove eligibility |
| Quadrennial review | First-year review only | Economic data and case-file review every four years; county reporting on deviations from August 2027 |
The 2023 column reflects the prior Guidelines as described in the 2025 Subcommittee review; the 2025 column is taken from Appendix A of Administrative Order 2025-101.
Can the Court Deviate From the Calculator?
Yes on amount, no on duration. A court must deviate from the amount range if it finds, in writing, that the range would be inappropriate or unjust — stating what the range would have been and what the order is instead. Section V lists seventeen factors for that decision, including the standard of living during the marriage, the cost for the receiving spouse to obtain health insurance, the tax rates of each spouse, marital waste, and which spouse was assigned the marital debt.
Some things look like deviations but are not: a step-down award that decreases over time within the range, rounding the monthly figure, or the parties’ own written agreement under Rule 69 and A.R.S. § 25-317. Spouses who agree on maintenance do not have to use the calculator at all, as long as each acknowledges knowing about the Guidelines and having had a chance to run the numbers. The expenses the calculator already covers — housing, food, utilities, transportation, health and dental insurance, apparel, personal care, entertainment — cannot support a deviation unless they are extraordinary.
Worked Examples: Reading the Duration Table
These examples use fictional spouses and apply only the duration rules; the dollar amount always depends on the expenditure data inside the official calculator.
- Married 8 years, 2 months (98 months). Standard range: 6 to 48 months. The court picks the months using the § 25-319(B) factors.
- Married 13 years (156 months). Standard range: 12 to 60 months.
- Married 20 years (240 months), requesting spouse age 39. 39 + 20 = 59, so the Rule of 65 does not apply. Range: 12 months up to the greater of 144 months or 120 months (50% of 240) — so 12 to 144 months.
- Married 30 years (360 months), requesting spouse age 58. Age 42+, marriage 16+ years, 58 + 30 = 88. The Rule of 65 applies and duration is at the court’s discretion. Had the spouse been 34, the range would have been 12 to 180 months (50% of 360 is greater than 144).
- Married 4 years, combined income $41,000. Standard range would be 6 to 36 months, but the amount range starts at zero because combined income is under $44,000. If the award is zero, no duration is set.
Temporary Orders and Modifications
Temporary spousal maintenance during a pending case uses the same amount range, with two presumptions: income is not attributed to a receiving spouse who has not worked full-time for a bona fide employer in the 24 months before filing, and the court must allocate community expenses because the calculator assumes they are split equally. Temporary orders do not prejudice the final decision and are not counted in the final duration unless the court says so.
Modifications are governed by A.R.S. § 25-327 and require a substantial and continuing change in circumstances. For petitions originally filed on or after September 24, 2022, showing that the Guidelines would now produce a different number can itself establish changed circumstances. A paying spouse’s retirement can qualify once it actually happens, but a court will not shorten or extend an award now based on a retirement that has not occurred. For a fixed-term award, the receiving spouse must file to extend it before it expires.
How Dynasty Legal Documents Prepares Spousal Maintenance Paperwork
Dynasty Legal Documents prepares and files the petition, response, Spousal Maintenance Worksheet and related family-court documents for Arizona divorces and legal separations at a published flat fee, at your direction. A Spousal Maintenance Worksheet is included in every divorce and legal separation package on our divorce document preparation page: $475 (no children, no decree), $600 (with children, no decree), $950 (no children, with decree) and $1,200 (with children, with decree). Each package includes drafting, filing all documents with the court, and setting up service. Court filing fees, process server fees and the Parent Information Program are not included — current Maricopa County fees are broken down in our guide to how much a divorce costs in Arizona.
Owner Melissa Moy is an Arizona Supreme Court Certified Legal Document Preparer (AZCLDP #81440), certified since 2014, has worked in Arizona family law since 2007, and was appointed in 2023 to the Supreme Court’s Board of Nonlawyer Legal Services Providers. Under ACJA § 7-208, a certified preparer can prepare your documents and provide general legal information like this guide, but cannot give legal advice about your specific case or represent you in court. You can read more about that distinction on our page comparing a certified legal document preparer and a paralegal, and about the full divorce process in divorce in Arizona without a lawyer. If child support is also at issue, Arizona requires spousal maintenance to be determined first — see our Arizona child support page for the separate child support calculation.
When to talk to an attorney instead
A document preparer is the right fit for many Arizona spousal maintenance cases, and the wrong fit for some. Consider a licensed family law attorney if:
- Your spouse disputes eligibility and you expect an evidentiary hearing on whether a § 25-319(A) ground is met.
- Either spouse owns a business, has complex or fluctuating income, or you expect a fight over attributed income or marital waste.
- You need to argue for or against a deviation from the amount range, or a Rule of 65 or disability exception.
- There is domestic violence, or one spouse is already represented by counsel — Dynasty cannot work with a party who is currently working with an attorney on the same matter.
Dynasty maintains a referral network of Arizona attorneys and will tell you at the free consultation if your case is one we should refer out.
Arizona Spousal Maintenance Resources
- Arizona Judicial Branch — Spousal Maintenance Guidelines (current and prior Guidelines, committee reports)
- Maricopa County Superior Court — official Spousal Maintenance Calculator
- Administrative Order 2025-101 with the full 2025 Guidelines as Appendix A
- A.R.S. § 25-319 — Maintenance; guidelines; computation factors
Frequently Asked Questions
How is spousal maintenance calculated in AZ?
Arizona calculates spousal maintenance with a statewide calculator that compares the receiving spouse’s share of combined household expenditures to that spouse’s share of combined income, producing a monthly amount range, and then applies a duration range fixed by marriage length. The court must first find the requesting spouse eligible under A.R.S. § 25-319(A). Inputs are family size, each spouse’s actual and attributed income, and the length of the marriage to the date of service. Only an Arizona court can decide what any particular case will receive.
What are the guidelines for spousal maintenance in Arizona?
The Arizona Spousal Maintenance Guidelines are rules adopted by the Arizona Supreme Court under A.R.S. § 25-319(B), most recently revised by Administrative Order 2025-101 effective September 1, 2025. They apply to petitions filed on or after September 24, 2022 and define family size, what counts as income, the amount-range method, duration ranges by marriage length, the Rule of 65, deviation factors, temporary orders and modifications. Parties who agree on maintenance may settle outside the Guidelines if both acknowledge they know about the calculator.
How long does spousal maintenance last in Arizona?
Under the 2025 Guidelines, duration runs 3–12 months for marriages under 2 years, 6–36 months for 2 to under 5 years, 6–48 months for 5 to under 10 years, 12–60 months for 10 to under 16 years, and 12 months up to 144 months (or half the marriage length, if longer) for 16 years or more. When the Rule of 65 or a permanent disability applies, the court sets duration case by case. Arizona law does not allow “lifetime” awards, and the court cannot deviate from the duration ranges.
What disqualifies you from spousal maintenance in Arizona?
A spouse who does not meet any of the five grounds in A.R.S. § 25-319(A) — insufficient property, inadequate earning ability, caring for a child who needs a parent at home, contributing to the other spouse’s career, or a long marriage at an age that limits employment — is not eligible. Even an eligible spouse may receive nothing if combined income is under $44,000 or the court deviates to zero with written findings. Marital misconduct is not a factor either way under § 25-319(C). Whether a specific person qualifies is a question for the court or a licensed attorney.
What is the Rule of 65 for Arizona spousal maintenance?
The Rule of 65 applies when the spouse requesting maintenance is at least 42, the marriage lasted at least 192 months, and the spouse’s age plus the years married totals 65 or more, all measured on the date the petition was served. When it applies, the court sets duration case by case rather than from the standard table, because age and marriage length together affect how realistic self-sufficiency is within a fixed term.
Is the Arizona spousal maintenance calculator free to use?
Yes. The official calculator is published free by the Arizona courts and is linked from the Arizona Judicial Branch’s Spousal Maintenance Guidelines page. It returns low, middle and high amounts plus a duration range. The output is informational; the court has final authority over any award. Dynasty Legal Documents prepares the Spousal Maintenance Worksheet that accompanies a divorce or legal separation filing as part of every package on its divorce page.
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