Where to Access the Calculator

The Maricopa County Superior Court provides a free Spousal Maintenance Calculator online. The Pima County Superior Court also offers a version on their website. These calculators are the same ones judges use, so running your numbers through them gives you a realistic preview of what to expect.

2025 Guideline Changes - What Is Different Now

On September 1, 2025, the Arizona Supreme Court implemented significant revisions to the Spousal Maintenance Guidelines. If your divorce order is entered after this date, the new rules apply. Here are the key changes:

Monthly mortgage principal payments are no longer included in the spousal maintenance formula. Under the old guidelines, mortgage payments were factored into the calculation, which often inflated the guideline amount. This change generally reduces awards in cases where the family home has a large mortgage.

The high-income adjustment threshold increased from $100,000 to $175,000 per year, and the maximum adjustment percentage dropped from 80% to 70%. This means lower spousal maintenance awards in high-income cases compared to the prior guidelines.

For long-term marriages of 16 or more years that are not subject to the Rule of 65, the maximum duration was extended from 8 years (96 months) to 12 years (144 months) or 50% of the marriage length, whichever is greater. This is a significant expansion that benefits recipients in longer marriages.

The Rule of 65 continues to apply when the receiving spouse's age plus the length of the marriage equals 65 or more years. In these cases, courts have greater discretion in setting both amount and duration.

Arizona Spousal Maintenance Guidelines in Maricopa County (2026)

Maricopa County handles more divorces than any other Arizona county: roughly 60% of the state's annual filings. If you live in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, Surprise, or any other Maricopa city, your case will be heard at the Maricopa County Superior Court, and your spousal maintenance calculation will follow the same 2025 Spousal Maintenance Guidelines that apply statewide. Those guidelines, updated September 1, 2025 under Administrative Order 2025-101, govern every divorce finalized in 2026.

What is Maricopa-specific is the tooling and the local filing process. The Maricopa County Superior Court publishes the official Spousal Maintenance Calculator that judges use to produce the amount and duration ranges. It is free, public, and mirrors the statewide formula. Running your numbers through it before you file gives you a realistic preview of what a judge is likely to order, whether you are the paying or receiving spouse.

Your Affidavit of Financial Information (AFI) feeds directly into this calculation. The court takes the income, expense, and asset figures from both spouses' AFIs and generates the calculator output from them. If either AFI is incomplete or inaccurate, the maintenance amount will be wrong. That is why the AFI is the single most important document in any case where spousal maintenance is on the table. Our AFI guide walks through each section of the form and the numbers the calculator depends on.

For the full Maricopa County filing process, fees, and timing, see our Maricopa County divorce filing guide. Filing fees in Maricopa are currently $349 for the petitioner and $279 for the respondent, separate from any spousal maintenance award. Pima, Pinal, and all other Arizona counties apply the same statewide calculator, so the amount and duration ranges will not vary by county. Only the filing fees and local procedures change.

Rule of 65: A Worked Example

The Rule of 65 is one of the most important concepts in Arizona spousal maintenance, and it is also one of the most misunderstood. The rule works like this: add the receiving spouse's age at the time of filing to the length of the marriage in years. If the total is 65 or more, the case qualifies for extended-duration spousal maintenance, and the court has discretion to award indefinite-term maintenance.

Here are three concrete examples.

Example 1 — Qualifies for Rule of 65. Maria is 52 years old. She was married for 14 years. 52 + 14 = 66. The Rule of 65 applies. Because Maria's age plus marriage length exceeds 65, the court can award maintenance beyond the standard duration range the calculator produces, up to and including indefinite-term maintenance if Maria cannot reasonably become self-sufficient. The judge still uses the calculator to set the amount, but the duration is no longer capped.

Example 2 — Does not qualify. David is 38 years old. He was married for 20 years. 38 + 20 = 58. The Rule of 65 does not apply. David is still eligible for spousal maintenance under the other four factors, and with a 20-year marriage, the "long marriage" factor under A.R.S. § 25-319(A)(4) likely applies. But the duration range the calculator produces will cap at 12 years (144 months) or 50% of the marriage length, whichever is greater, under the 2025 guidelines. That means David's maintenance could run up to 12 years, but will not default to indefinite the way Maria's might.

Example 3 — Borderline case. Susan is 48 years old. She was married for 16 years. 48 + 16 = 64. Susan just misses the Rule of 65 by one point. She does not automatically qualify for extended-duration maintenance. But she does qualify for the newly-expanded duration range under the 2025 guidelines (up to 12 years or 50% of the marriage length). In practice, a judge may still award long-duration fixed-term maintenance based on the specific circumstances — career sacrifice, age, health, earning capacity — even without the Rule of 65 trigger.

The Rule of 65 is not a guarantee of any specific amount. It only determines whether the court has discretion to award longer or indefinite-term maintenance. The calculator still produces a presumptive amount, and the court can deviate from that amount in writing if it finds the result unjust. If you are close to the 65 threshold, the timing of your filing can matter. For a deeper breakdown of borderline cases and strategic timing, see our dedicated Arizona Rule of 65 guide. Running your numbers through the Maricopa calculator is the fastest way to see where you stand.

Types of Spousal Maintenance

Arizona recognizes three categories of spousal maintenance, each serving a different purpose.

Temporary Maintenance (Pendente Lite)

Temporary maintenance is awarded during the divorce proceedings, before the final decree is entered. Its purpose is to maintain the financial status quo while the case is pending. If one spouse has been the primary earner and the other has little or no income, temporary maintenance ensures the lower-earning spouse can pay basic living expenses while the divorce is resolved.

Temporary maintenance ends when the court issues the final decree and either replaces it with a fixed-term award or determines that no ongoing maintenance is warranted.

Fixed-Term Maintenance (Rehabilitative)

This is the most common type of spousal maintenance in Arizona. The court awards maintenance for a specific period, typically tied to the time the receiving spouse needs to obtain education, job training, or work experience sufficient to become self-sufficient. For example, a spouse who left the workforce for 10 years to raise children might receive maintenance for 3 to 5 years while they complete a degree program and re-enter the job market.

Indefinite-Term Maintenance

Despite what many people believe, Arizona does not award "lifetime alimony." However, the court can issue an indefinite-term order in two specific situations: (1) the receiving spouse meets the Rule of 65 (their age plus the length of the marriage equals 65 or more), or (2) the receiving spouse has a permanent disability that prevents self-sufficiency. Even indefinite-term maintenance can be modified or terminated if circumstances change.

How Courts Actually Decide

The guideline amount is presumptive - meaning the court starts with the formula result and works from there. A judge can deviate from the guidelines, but must explain in writing why the guideline amount would be inappropriate or unjust.

Factors that commonly lead to deviations include significant career sacrifices made during the marriage (such as one spouse leaving the workforce to raise children), health conditions that limit earning capacity, and situations where one spouse contributed to the other's professional education or training.

It is important to understand that Arizona is a no-fault divorce state. Marital misconduct - including affairs, substance abuse, or domestic violence - is explicitly excluded from the spousal maintenance calculation. Courts cannot increase or decrease an award based on who was at fault for the marriage ending, except in narrow circumstances where one spouse wasted marital assets (such as spending community funds on an affair).

Income from all sources is considered, including wages, overtime, bonuses, self-employment income, rental income, investment returns, and retirement distributions. The 2025 guidelines include updated rules for how overtime pay and retirement asset income are calculated.

Key Rules You Should Know

Marital misconduct does not matter. Under A.R.S. § 25-319(C), the court cannot consider marital misconduct when determining spousal maintenance. Affairs, substance abuse, emotional cruelty: none of these affect the calculation. The analysis is purely financial.

The court can deviate on amount but not duration. If the judge believes the calculator's amount range produces an unjust result, they can order a different amount, but they must explain why in writing. The duration range, however, is binding.

Agreements between spouses are not deviations. If you and your spouse agree on a spousal maintenance amount and duration, even if it falls outside the calculator's ranges, the court will generally accept your agreement. This is one of the strongest arguments for reaching a settlement rather than going to trial.

Maintenance terminates upon remarriage or death. If the receiving spouse remarries, the maintenance obligation ends automatically. It also ends upon the death of either party.

Modification requires a substantial change in circumstances. Under A.R.S. § 25-327, either party can request a modification if their circumstances have changed significantly, for example, if the paying spouse retires or becomes disabled, or if the receiving spouse obtains employment that makes them self-sufficient. However, maintenance cannot be increased simply because the paying spouse's income goes up.

How Spousal Maintenance Affects Your Divorce

If spousal maintenance is likely to be an issue in your divorce, it will affect several other aspects of the process. The Affidavit of Financial Information (AFI) becomes especially important because it requires both spouses to disclose all income, expenses, assets, and debts, the same data the spousal maintenance calculator uses. An incomplete or inaccurate AFI can lead to an unfair maintenance award.

The total cost of your divorce may also increase if spousal maintenance is contested. For a breakdown of what to expect financially, see our Arizona divorce cost guide. And if you are trying to keep the process as simple and affordable as possible, understanding whether you qualify for maintenance, and having realistic expectations about the amount and duration, can help you reach an agreement with your spouse without going to trial. Our guide on uncontested vs. contested divorce explains the difference.

How Clarity Divorce Helps

Clarity Divorce automates the Affidavit of Financial Information, the document that captures the income, expense, and asset data central to any spousal maintenance calculation. Our AI-guided questionnaire walks you through every category step by step, performs the math automatically, and generates a court-ready document. While Clarity Divorce does not calculate spousal maintenance directly, having an accurate and complete AFI is the foundation for any maintenance discussion, whether you are negotiating with your spouse or presenting your case to a judge.

For a complete walkthrough of the Arizona divorce process from start to finish, see our step-by-step filing guide. If you are ready to begin, start your filing today.