Cites the recodified Title 81 statute

Utah Alimony Calculator 2026

Utah computes alimony with judgment, not a formula. What the statute does give you is unusually concrete anyway: a duration cap at the length of the marriage, and a presumption of equalized living standards for many 10-year marriages. This page lays out that framework rather than inventing a number.

Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed August 7, 2026 Sources Methodology Update log

What a Utah court weighs instead of a formula

UT sets alimony by judicial discretion; there is no statutory formula. Courts weigh the enumerated factors below.

Factors the court weighs

The standard of living existing at the time of separation, or at the time of trial for a short marriage with no children
The financial condition and needs of the party seeking alimony
The earning capacity of the party seeking alimony, including the impact of diminished workplace experience from primarily caring for a child of the payor
The ability of the payor to provide support
The length of the marriage
Whether the party seeking alimony has custody of a minor child requiring support
Whether the party seeking alimony worked in a business owned or operated by the payor
Whether the party seeking alimony directly contributed to an increase in the payor skill by paying for education or enabling training during the marriage
Fault of the parties, which the court may consider in determining alimony

Utah Code 81-4-502(2)-(3)

Duration limits

Duration cap: length of the marriage: Alimony may not be ordered for a duration longer than the number of years the marriage lasted, absent extenuating circumstances found by the court; temporary alimony ordered while the case was pending counts toward the cap (81-4-502(7)).
Equalization presumption, marriages of 10 or more years: The court may attempt to equalize the parties respective standards of living, and there is a REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION of equalization where the marriage lasted 10 or more years and the payee has significantly diminished workplace experience from an agreement to care for the payor minor child; the presumption applies to petitions filed on or after May 1, 2024 (81-4-502(4)).

Assumptions

This tool does not estimate a dollar amount for discretionary states: any number would be invented.
In the Utah child support calculation, alimony previously ordered and paid is deducted from the paying parent gross income, but alimony ordered in the pending case is not deducted (81-6-204(1), (3)).
Utah recodified alimony from 30-3-5 to Title 81 ch. 4 effective September 1, 2024; sources citing 30-3-5(8) describe the same factors under a repealed number. As of the latest archived capture (2025-09-06), 81-4-502 remained the 2024 recodified version; re-verify for 2025/2026-session amendments before relying on the text (official-confirmation-required). Alimony terminates on the death of either party or the payee remarriage or cohabitation (81-4-505).

Utah Code Title 81, Chapter 4 (alimony; 81-4-502 factors, equalization presumption, marriage-length duration cap; recodified from 30-3-5 eff. 2024-09-01)

Estimate only. The court or state agency calculation controls.

Utah alimony under Utah Code 81-4-502 (alimony factors and equalization; recodified from 30-3-5 effective 2024-09-01); 81-4-503 (imputation); 81-4-505 (termination).

What Utah law says about alimony amounts

The governing statute is Utah Code 81-4-502, and the number matters: Utah recodified its family code effective September 1, 2024, moving alimony from the long-cited section 30-3-5 into Title 81, Chapter 4. Sources still quoting 30-3-5(8) are describing current law under a repealed citation.

The court weighs the recipient financial condition and needs, earning capacity, the payor ability to pay, the length of the marriage, custody of minor children, work in the payor business, and contributions to the payor education or skills, measured against the standard of living at separation. Fault can also enter the picture.

Utah then goes a step further than most factor states: the court may attempt to EQUALIZE the parties standards of living. And since 2024 that is more than permission. For a marriage of 10 years or longer where the recipient workplace experience was significantly diminished by an agreement to care for the payor minor child, equalization is a rebuttable presumption, for petitions filed on or after May 1, 2024.

Duration has a hard edge. Alimony may not run longer than the marriage lasted unless the court finds extenuating circumstances, and temporary alimony paid while the case was pending counts against that clock. Alimony ends automatically on either party death or on the recipient remarriage or cohabitation.

Because no formula exists, this page will not print a dollar figure; any tool that does is guessing. What it shows instead is the exact factor list a Utah court applies, the equalization rule, and how an alimony award feeds the child support math.

Amount formula: None; judicial discretion weighing the 81-4-502 factorssource
Statute: Utah Code 81-4-502 (recodified September 1, 2024; formerly 30-3-5, now repealed)source
Equalization presumption: Rebuttable, for 10+ year marriages with a child-care-diminished payee; petitions filed on or after May 1, 2024source
Duration cap: The length of the marriage, absent extenuating circumstances; temporary alimony countssource

How to use this page

Use the factor list as a preparation checklist. Every factor is an evidence category: monthly budgets for needs, pay history and vocational facts for earning capacity, the payor income picture for ability to pay, and dates for the length of the marriage.

If your marriage passed the 10-year mark and one spouse stepped back from work to raise the children of the marriage, read the equalization presumption carefully; it can reframe the case from "what does the recipient need" to "what makes the two households comparable", which is often a larger number.

Then do the duration arithmetic: count the years married, subtract any months of temporary alimony already paid, and you have the presumptive outer bound of an award. For the dollars themselves, expect negotiation and judgment informed by these factors, not a computation.

What this estimate includes

The 81-4-502 factor list under the current, recodified citation
The equalization rule and its 10-year rebuttable presumption with the 2024 filing-date trigger
The marriage-length duration cap and the automatic termination events
How alimony interacts with the Utah child support calculation

What it leaves out

Any predicted alimony amount; Utah law does not supply one
Imputation fights under 81-4-503, which turn on vocational evidence
Modification and cohabitation litigation after the decree
Property division, which the court settles alongside but separately from alimony

Utah alimony FAQs

Is there a Utah alimony formula or calculator?

No formula exists in Utah law, so there is nothing legitimate to calculate. Utah Code 81-4-502 gives the court factors and, in the right cases, an equalization presumption, but the dollar amount is discretionary. Any site printing a precise Utah alimony number has invented its own math.

What is the 10-year equalization presumption?

For petitions filed on or after May 1, 2024, a court presumes it should try to equalize the spouses standards of living where the marriage lasted at least 10 years and the spouse seeking alimony has significantly diminished workplace experience because the couple agreed that spouse would care for the payor minor child. The presumption can be rebutted, but it moves the starting point of the argument.

How long can alimony last in Utah?

Presumptively no longer than the marriage itself. A 12-year marriage supports at most 12 years of alimony unless the court finds extenuating circumstances, and temporary alimony ordered during the case counts toward the total. Death of either party, remarriage, or cohabitation ends the obligation earlier.

Did the 2024 recodification change Utah alimony law?

It changed the address, not the substance. H.B. 366 moved alimony from section 30-3-5 into Title 81, Chapter 4 effective September 1, 2024, renumbering the factors into 81-4-502 with imputation at 81-4-503 and termination at 81-4-505. Older cases and articles citing 30-3-5 describe the same rules under a repealed number.

Does fault matter for Utah alimony?

It can. The statute lets the court consider fault, meaning wrongful conduct that substantially contributed to breaking up the marriage, when setting an award. Fault does not create an automatic bar the way some states treat adultery; it is one weight on the scale.

How does alimony affect Utah child support?

Through the income side of the worksheet. Alimony previously ordered and actually paid is subtracted from the paying parent gross income before the child support tables run, while alimony ordered in the same pending case is not subtracted. Our Utah child support calculator carries a field for the prior-order amount.

Good to know in Utah

Utah courts built much of this framework in case law, the Jones factors, before the legislature codified it; the statute now controls, which is why current citations matter more than older opinions.
The 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions have so far left 81-4-502 as recodified in 2024; we re-verify the section before each data review and date this page accordingly.

Official sources

Official sources last verified: August 7, 2026.

Utah Code Title 81, Chapter 4 (alimony; 81-4-502 factors, equalization presumption, marriage-length duration cap; recodified from 30-3-5 eff. 2024-09-01)
Utah State Legislature (le.utah.gov) Last checked August 7, 2026