Alimony in Delaware.
Whether the state sets a formula or leaves it to the judge, what the court has to weigh, how long it runs, and what brings it to an end.
See a different stateDelaware
There is no arithmetic in Delaware’s statute. The court decides the amount and the length from the factors below, and two judges on the same facts can reach different answers. That is not a flaw in how we are describing it; it is how the law is written.
Use the state’s own words
Delaware calls it 'Alimony'. 13 Del. C. s. 1512 is captioned 'Alimony in divorce and annulment actions; award; limitations' and s. 1519 'Modification or termination of decree or order; termination of alimony; enforcement of alimony order'. Support during the case is called 'interim alimony' (s. 1512(a)). The statute's operative noun for the person entitled is 'a dependent party'.. Using the state’s own term matters when you are searching for forms or reading an order — the words are not interchangeable across state lines, and some of them mean different things in different places.
What the law actually says
The power the court has
What the judge has to weigh
How long it lasts
Duration
13 Del. C. s. 1512(d), verbatim and in full: 'A person shall be eligible for alimony for a period not to exceed 50% of the term of the marriage with the exception that if a party is married for 20 years or longer, there shall be no time limit as to such party's eligibility; however, the factors contained in subsection (c) of this section shall apply and shall be considered by the Court.' Read the verb: this is a cap on eligibility, not a promise of payment. A twenty-year marriage removes the ceiling; it does not create an entitlement, because s. 1512(b) still has to be satisfied. Delaware also imposes a continuing duty on the recipient, s. 1512(e), verbatim: 'Any person awarded alimony has a continuing affirmative obligation to make good faith efforts to seek appropriate vocational training, if necessary, and employment unless the Court specifically finds, after a hearing, that it would be inequitable to require a person awarded alimony to do so: (1) At any time, due to a. A severe and incapacitating mental or physical illness or disability or b. Such person's age, or (2) Immediately, after consideration of the needs of a minor child or children living with the person awarded alimony.' Source: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title13/c015/index.html
Does behavior matter?
Marital misconduct
Excluded, in the same sentence that sets the standard. 13 Del. C. s. 1512(c), verbatim in relevant part: 'The alimony order shall be in such amount and for such time as the Court deems just, without regard to marital misconduct, after consideration of all relevant factors'. None of the ten enumerated factors touches conduct, and unlike several states that exclude fault, Delaware does not carve out an economic-waste or dissipation factor either — there is no counterpart to Arizona's s. 25-319(B)(11) or Maine's 'economic misconduct' factor anywhere in s. 1512. Source: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title13/c015/index.html
When it ends, and when it can change
What brings it to an end
Delaware states the rule twice, in two sections, and the two statements are not identical. 13 Del. C. s. 1512(g), verbatim and in full: 'Unless the parties agree otherwise in writing, the obligation to pay future alimony is terminated upon the death of either party or the remarriage or cohabitation of the party receiving alimony. As used in this section, “cohabitation” means regularly residing with an adult of the same or opposite sex, if the parties hold themselves out as a couple, and regardless of whether the relationship confers a financial benefit on the party receiving alimony. Proof of sexual relations is admissible but not required to prove cohabitation. A party receiving alimony shall promptly notify the other party of remarriage or cohabitation.' 13 Del. C. s. 1519(b), verbatim and in full: 'Unless otherwise agreed by the parties in writing and expressly provided in the decree, the obligation to pay future alimony is terminated upon the death of either party or the remarriage of the party receiving alimony.' Divergence flag: s. 1512(g) lists three terminating events (death, remarriage, cohabitation) and lets the parties contract out by a writing; s. 1519(b) lists two (death, remarriage) and requires both a writing and an express provision in the decree to contract out. Cohabitation appears in one and not the other. Both are current text on the Delaware Code's own site as read on 2026-08-23. Delaware also bars a party who has waived alimony from any remedy at all, s. 1512(f), verbatim: 'A party who has in writing before, during or after the marriage waived or released such party's own right to alimony shall have no remedy under this section.' There is no statutory retirement trigger. Source: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title13/c015/index.html
Changing it later
13 Del. C. s. 1519(a), verbatim in relevant part: 'A decree or separate order entered under s. 1518 of this title may be modified or terminated only as follows: … (4) Alimony or any other relief awarded, only upon a showing of real and substantial change of circumstances.' The adjective 'real' is unusual; most states say 'substantial' or 'material' alone. Enforcement and the power to modify are placed in the Family Court, s. 1519(c), verbatim: 'Any alimony order entered pursuant to s. 1512 of this title shall be enforced in this State exclusively by the Family Court in the county wherein the respondent resides or is found, or in the county where petitioner resides if respondent does not reside and cannot be found in this State, regardless of whether such petitioner was the petitioner or the respondent in the divorce action, and such Family Court, on proper showing of either of such petitioner or such respondent or on its own motion, may modify or terminate support obligations formerly decreed by the Superior Court.' Source: https://delcode.delaware.gov/title13/c015/index.html
Worth knowing about Delaware
Delaware's cohabitation definition is the most aggressive of the fifty, and the drafting is deliberate on both edges: 'regardless of whether the relationship confers a financial benefit on the party receiving alimony' removes the need-based inquiry that most states require, and 'Proof of sexual relations is admissible but not required' removes the evidentiary problem that makes cohabitation cases ugly elsewhere. What is retained is a holding-out requirement — 'if the parties hold themselves out as a couple' — which California's s. 4323(a)(2) expressly disclaims. Second, the fifty-percent cap at s. 1512(d) is drafted as a limit on eligibility rather than on the award, so a party can exhaust eligibility without ever having received the maximum. Third, the two termination provisions (s. 1512(g) and s. 1519(b)) differ from each other in the current code, as set out in the termination field.
The tax rule changed, and most guides still describe the old one
For a divorce or separation instrument executed after 31 December 2018, alimony is not deductible by the person paying it and not taxable to the person receiving it. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act repealed the provisions that made it otherwise. For an instrument executed on or before that date the old treatment continues — deductible to the payer, taxable to the recipient — unless it is later modified and the modification expressly adopts the new rule.
This is not a detail. Under the old rule a higher-rate payer could transfer income to a lower-rate recipient and the two of them shared the saving. That saving no longer exists, which changes what a given number is worth to each side. New Hampshire wrote the point into its own statute: its 23 per cent figure assumes non-deductibility, and reverts to 30 per cent if the federal treatment is ever restored.
Alongside the federal rule, Delaware’s own income tax follows the federal treatment. That means the federal answer above is the whole answer here — no state adjustment for alimony either way. Four states do not — Arkansas, California, New Jersey and New York — so this is worth knowing rather than assuming. The fifty-state table.
Source: Delaware Division of Revenue, Personal Income Tax FAQs: ‘Income from out-of-state municipal bonds would be included in the federal adjusted gross income, which is carried over to the Delaware return’ the state source
The other number that decides your budget
How Delaware calculates child support, and the overnight count that moves it more than income does.
And the question underneath it
What Delaware presumes about custody, and what the judge has to weigh.
The rest of what we have written about Delaware. Every figure is quoted from Delaware’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.