Alimony in Rhode Island

Does Rhode Island have an alimony formula?

No. The judge decides it on the factors.

There is no arithmetic in Rhode Island’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

Rhode Island calls it alimony, and the statute defines the word. R.I. Gen. Laws section 15-5-16(c)(1): 'For the purposes of this section, "alimony" is construed as payments for the support or maintenance of either the husband or the wife.'. 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

R.I. Gen. Laws section 15-5-16 ('Alimony and counsel fees – Custody of children'); section 15-5-19 (allowances, alimony and counsel fees on restraining-order petitions).R.I. Gen. Laws section 15-5-16(a), quoted verbatim: 'In granting any petition for divorce, divorce from bed and board, or relief without the commencement of divorce proceedings, the family court may order either of the parties to pay alimony or counsel fees, or both, to the other.' The purpose clause, section 15-5-16(c)(2), quoted verbatim: 'Alimony is designed to provide support for a spouse for a reasonable length of time to enable the recipient to become financially independent and self-sufficient. However, the court may award alimony for an indefinite period of time when it is appropriate in the discretion of the court based upon the factors set forth in subdivision (b)(2)(ii)(B).'

What the judge has to weigh

R.I. Gen. Laws section 15-5-16 ('Alimony and counsel fees – Custody of children'); section 15-5-19 (allowances, alimony and counsel fees on restraining-order petitions). — the factorsR.I. Gen. Laws section 15-5-16(b), quoted verbatim: '(1) In determining the amount of alimony or counsel fees, if any, to be paid, the court, after hearing the witnesses, if any, of each party, shall consider: (i) The length of the marriage; (ii) The conduct of the parties during the marriage; (iii) The health, age, station, occupation, amount and source of income, vocational skills, and employability of the parties; and (iv) The state and the liabilities and needs of each of the parties. (2) In addition, the court shall consider: (i) The extent to which either party is unable to support herself or himself adequately because that party is the primary physical custodian of a child whose age, condition, or circumstances make it appropriate that the parent not seek employment outside the home, or seek only part-time or flexible-hour employment outside the home; (ii) The extent to which either party is unable to support herself or himself adequately with consideration given to: (A) The extent to which a party was absent from employment while fulfilling homemaking responsibilities, and the extent to which any education, skills, or experience of that party have become outmoded and his or her earning capacity diminished; (B) The time and expense required for the supported spouse to acquire the appropriate education or training to develop marketable skills and find appropriate employment; (C) The probability, given a party's age and skills, of completing education or training and becoming self-supporting; (D) The standard of living during the marriage; (E) The opportunity of either party for future acquisition of capital assets and income; (F) The ability to pay of the supporting spouse, taking into account the supporting spouse's earning capacity, earned and unearned income, assets, debts, and standard of living; (G) Any other factor which the court expressly finds to be just and proper.' Source: https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE15/15-5/15-5-16.htm

How long it lasts

Duration

The length of the marriage is the first mandatory factor, section 15-5-16(b)(1)(i), but no bracket, ratio, presumption or maximum term is attached to it. What Rhode Island's statute does instead is set a default character for the award: alimony 'is designed to provide support for a spouse for a reasonable length of time to enable the recipient to become financially independent and self-sufficient', with an indefinite award available in the court's discretion 'based upon the factors set forth in subdivision (b)(2)(ii)(B)' — that is, the time and expense required to acquire education or training. Section 15-5-16(c)(2).

Does behavior matter?

Marital misconduct

Expressly permitted, and mandatory to consider. Section 15-5-16(b)(1)(ii) lists among the matters the court 'shall consider': 'The conduct of the parties during the marriage'. Rhode Island is one of two states in this batch (with North Dakota) whose statute names conduct as a required factor.

When it ends, and when it can change

What brings it to an end

One statutory rule only, in the last sentence of section 15-5-16(c)(2), quoted verbatim: 'Upon the remarriage of the spouse who is receiving alimony, the obligation to pay alimony shall automatically terminate at once.' There is no statutory provision on the death of either party, on cohabitation, or on retirement. 'Cohabitation' does not appear anywhere in chapter 15-5 as a ground to end or reduce alimony; the chapter's index lists no such section.

Changing it later

Section 15-5-16(c)(2), quoted verbatim: 'After a decree for alimony has been entered, the court may from time to time upon the petition of either party review and alter its decree relative to the amount and payment of the alimony, and may make any decree relative to it which it might have made in the original suit. The decree may be made retroactive in the court's discretion to the date that the court finds that a substantial change in circumstances has occurred; provided, the court shall set forth in its decision the specific findings of fact which show a substantial change in circumstances and upon which findings of facts the court has decided to make the decree retroactive. Nothing provided in this section shall affect the power of the court as subsequently provided by law to alter, amend, or annul any order of alimony previously entered.'

Worth knowing about Rhode Island

Rhode Island writes its policy into the statute rather than leaving it to the courts: the section states in terms that alimony is rehabilitative by design and indefinite only by exception, and it ties the exception to one specific sub-factor. It also contains an express saving clause for support during the case — section 15-5-16(f): 'This chapter does not affect the right of the family court to award alimony or support pendente lite.' — and a parallel power under section 15-5-19 to order 'one of the parties to pay alimony and/or counsel fees to the other pursuant to section 15-5-16' where a cause for divorce exists or a party is insane, without a divorce petition having been filed. There is no statutory formula, no cap and no statewide court-rule alimony guideline that we could find.

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, Rhode Island’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: R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-30-12(a)-(c) (‘The Rhode Island income of a resident individual means the individual’s adjusted gross income for federal income tax purposes, with the modifications specified in this section’ — no alimony modification listed) the state source

Authority: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Pub. L. 115-97, section 11051, repealing Internal Revenue Code sections 71 and 215; see also IRS Publication 504.

Authority: R.I. Gen. Laws section 15-5-16 ('Alimony and counsel fees – Custody of children'); section 15-5-19 (allowances, alimony and counsel fees on restraining-order petitions). — read it on Rhode Island’s own site. Checked 23 Aug 2026.

The other number that decides your budget

How Rhode Island calculates child support, and the overnight count that moves it more than income does.

Child support →

And the question underneath it

What Rhode Island presumes about custody, and what the judge has to weigh.

Custody →

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Alimony in Rhode Island.