Alimony in South Carolina.
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 stateSouth Carolina
There is no arithmetic in South Carolina’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
South Carolina calls it Two terms, used together throughout, for two situations: 'alimony' where the bond of matrimony is dissolved, and 'separate maintenance and support' where the parties live apart and no divorce is sought. S.C. Code Ann. 20-3-130 is captioned 'Award of alimony and other allowances' and its operative sentence names both. Section 20-3-130(B)(6) also uses the phrase 'spousal support' as a residual catch-all.. 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
No bracket, no cap, no schedule. Duration is left to 20-3-130(A): 'in such amounts and for such term as the court considers appropriate as from the circumstances of the parties and the nature of case may be just, pendente lite, and permanently.' What South Carolina does instead is fix duration through the form of the award. Section 20-3-130(B) is quoted verbatim in full below, less its closing definition of 'continued cohabitation', which is quoted in the termination field. Six named forms, each with its own built-in end and its own stated purpose: '(B) Alimony and separate maintenance and support awards may be granted pendente lite and permanently in such amounts and for periods of time subject to conditions as the court considers just including, but not limited to: (1) Periodic alimony to be paid but terminating on the remarriage or continued cohabitation of the supported spouse or upon the death of either spouse (except as secured in subsection (D)) and terminable and modifiable based upon changed circumstances occurring in the future. The purpose of this form of support may include, but is not limited to, circumstances where the court finds it appropriate to order the payment of alimony on an ongoing basis where it is desirable to make a current determination and requirement for the ongoing support of a spouse to be reviewed and revised as circumstances may dictate in the future. (2) Lump-sum alimony in a finite total sum to be paid in one installment, or periodically over a period of time, terminating only upon the death of the supported spouse, but not terminable or modifiable based upon remarriage or changed circumstances in the future. The purpose of this form of support may include, but not be limited to, circumstances where the court finds alimony appropriate but determines that such an award be of a finite and nonmodifiable nature. (3) Rehabilitative alimony in a finite sum to be paid in one installment or periodically, terminable upon the remarriage or continued cohabitation of the supported spouse, the death of either spouse (except as secured in subsection (D)) or the occurrence of a specific event to occur in the future, or modifiable based upon unforeseen events frustrating the good faith efforts of the supported spouse to become self-supporting or the ability of the supporting spouse to pay the rehabilitative alimony. The purpose of this form of support may include, but is not limited to, circumstances where the court finds it appropriate to provide for the rehabilitation of the supported spouse, but to provide modifiable ending dates coinciding with events considered appropriate by the court such as the completion of job training or education and the like, and to require rehabilitative efforts by the supported spouse. (4) Reimbursement alimony to be paid in a finite sum, to be paid in one installment or periodically, terminable on the remarriage or continued cohabitation of the supported spouse, or upon the death of either spouse (except as secured in subsection (D)) but not terminable or modifiable based upon changed circumstances in the future. The purpose of this form of support may include, but is not limited to, circumstances where the court finds it necessary and desirable to reimburse the supported spouse from the future earnings of the payor spouse based upon circumstances or events that occurred during the marriage. (5) Separate maintenance and support to be paid periodically, but terminating upon the continued cohabitation of the supported spouse, upon the divorce of the parties, or upon the death of either spouse (except as secured in subsection (D)) and terminable and modifiable based upon changed circumstances in the future. The purpose of this form of support may include, but is not limited to, circumstances where a divorce is not sought, but it is necessary to provide for support of the supported spouse by way of separate maintenance and support when the parties are living separate and apart. (6) Such other form of spousal support, under terms and conditions as the court may consider just, as appropriate under the circumstances without limitation to grant more than one form of support.' The length of the marriage enters only as factor (C)(1).
Does behavior matter?
Marital misconduct
South Carolina is a state where fault matters twice over. First as an absolute bar, in 20-3-130(A): 'No alimony may be awarded a spouse who commits adultery before the earliest of these two events: (1) the formal signing of a written property or marital settlement agreement or (2) entry of a permanent order of separate maintenance and support or of a permanent order approving a property or marital settlement agreement between the parties.' The bar is stated as 'No alimony may be awarded' – it is not a factor to be weighed. Second as a factor, at 20-3-130(C)(10), quoted in the factors field, which reaches 'marital misconduct or fault of either or both parties, whether or not used as a basis for a divorce or separate maintenance decree if the misconduct affects or has affected the economic circumstances of the parties, or contributed to the breakup of the marriage', subject to the same cut-off events. Fault also reaches fees: 20-3-130(H) begins 'The court, from time to time after considering the financial resources and marital fault of both parties, may order one party to pay a reasonable amount to the other for attorney fees, expert fees, investigation fees, costs, and suit money'.
When it ends, and when it can change
What brings it to an end
Terminating events are attached to each form of award in 20-3-130(B), quoted in the duration field. 'Continued cohabitation' is defined, with a number and an anti-evasion clause, in the closing paragraph of 20-3-130(B), quoted verbatim: 'For purposes of this subsection and unless otherwise agreed to in writing by the parties, "continued cohabitation" means the supported spouse resides with another person in a romantic relationship for a period of ninety or more consecutive days. The court may determine that a continued cohabitation exists if there is evidence that the supported spouse resides with another person in a romantic relationship for periods of less than ninety days and the two periodically separate in order to circumvent the ninety-day requirement.' The same definition is repeated in 20-3-150, which also provides, verbatim: 'upon the remarriage or continued cohabitation of the supported spouse the amount fixed in the decree for his or her support shall cease, and no further alimony payments may be required from the supporting spouse.'
Changing it later
S.C. Code Ann. 20-3-170(A), quoted verbatim: 'Whenever any husband or wife, pursuant to a judgment of divorce from the bonds of matrimony, has been required to make his or her spouse any periodic payments of alimony and the circumstances of the parties or the financial ability of the spouse making the periodic payments shall have changed since the rendition of such judgment, either party may apply to the court which rendered the judgment for an order and judgment decreasing or increasing the amount of such alimony payments or terminating such payments and the court, after giving both parties an opportunity to be heard and to introduce evidence relevant to the issue, shall make such order and judgment as justice and equity shall require, with due regard to the changed circumstances and the financial ability of the supporting spouse, decreasing or increasing or confirming the amount of alimony provided for in such original judgment or terminating such payments.' Retirement is dealt with expressly at 20-3-170(B), quoted verbatim: '(B) Retirement by the supporting spouse is sufficient grounds to warrant a hearing, if so moved by a party, to evaluate whether there has been a change of circumstances for alimony. The court shall consider the following factors: (1) whether retirement was contemplated when alimony was awarded; (2) the age of the supporting spouse; (3) the health of the supporting spouse; (4) whether the retirement is mandatory or voluntary; (5) whether retirement would result in a decrease in the supporting spouse's income; and (6) any other factors the court sees fit.' (2012 Act No. 260, SECTION 1, eff June 18, 2012.) Two limits sit on top of this. Only some forms of award are modifiable at all – lump-sum and reimbursement alimony are 'not terminable or modifiable based upon … changed circumstances in the future' under 20-3-130(B)(2) and (B)(4). And the parties can contract out: 20-3-130(G) ends 'The parties may agree in writing if properly approved by the court to make the payment of alimony as set forth in items (1) through (6) of subsection (B) nonmodifiable and not subject to subsequent modification by the court.'
Worth knowing about South Carolina
Three. First, South Carolina names six forms of support in one subsection and gives each its own termination and modification rule, so the practical question in a South Carolina case is which box the award goes in, not what the number is. Lump-sum alimony under 20-3-130(B)(2) survives the recipient's remarriage – it terminates 'only upon the death of the supported spouse' and is 'not terminable or modifiable based upon remarriage or changed circumstances in the future.' That is the opposite of the ordinary rule. Second, the adultery bar is absolute and it is time-bounded: adultery before the earliest of a signed settlement agreement or a permanent order bars alimony outright; adultery after that point does not, and the cut-off is written the same way in the factor at (C)(10). Third, South Carolina puts an actual number on cohabitation – ninety consecutive days – and then writes an anti-evasion clause for couples who separate periodically to reset the clock. Very few states quantify it at all.
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, South Carolina’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: S.C. Code Ann. § 12-6-40(A)(1)(a) (‘”Internal Revenue Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended through December 31, 2024’) and § 12-6-40(A)(2)(b) (referencing ‘Internal Revenue Code … Section[] … 71 (Alimony and Separate Maintenance Payments)’ in defining South Carolina adjusted gross income) the state source
The other number that decides your budget
How South Carolina calculates child support, and the overnight count that moves it more than income does.
And the question underneath it
What South Carolina presumes about custody, and what the judge has to weigh.