How does alimony (spousal support) work in Nevada?

Alimony in Nevada is governed by NRS 125.150, which says a court granting a divorce “may award such alimony to either spouse, in a specified principal sum or as specified periodic payments, as appears just and equitable.” The award is discretionary — no statute requires alimony in any case or sets a formula for it. The same statute lists the factors courts must consider, allows later modification when circumstances change, and ends periodic payments on the recipient’s remarriage or either party’s death unless the court orders otherwise.

What is alimony under Nevada law?

Alimony — often called spousal support — is money one spouse is ordered to pay for the other spouse’s support in connection with a divorce. NRS 125.150(1)(a) frames it in deliberately flexible terms: the court may award it, to either spouse, and the touchstone is what “appears just and equitable.” That means alimony is not automatic, is not tied to gender, and is not calculated from a table the way child support is.

Alimony is separate from the division of property. The same statute requires courts to make an equal disposition of community property to the extent practicable — a distinct question covered in how property is divided in a Nevada divorce — and the property a spouse receives in that division is one factor in the alimony decision.

What kinds of spousal support does the law describe?

The statutes describe several forms of support, though they do not use pop-culture labels for them:

• Temporary support during the case. NRS 125.040 lets a court, while a divorce suit is pending, order either party to pay money for the other party’s “temporary maintenance,” for temporary child support, or to enable the other party to carry on or defend the suit. These orders last only while the case is pending.
• Lump-sum alimony. NRS 125.150(1)(a) allows an award “in a specified principal sum” — a fixed total, rather than open-ended monthly payments.
• Periodic alimony. The same provision allows “specified periodic payments,” typically monthly payments for a period the court sets.
• Alimony for training or education. NRS 125.150(10) requires the court to consider granting alimony specifically so a spouse can obtain training or education related to a job, career or profession. This is what many people call “rehabilitative alimony,” though the statute does not use that word. Under subsection 11, such an award can include money for skills testing, career evaluation and guidance, job-search help, an employer’s training costs, and tuition, books and fees.

How does a court decide whether to award alimony?

NRS 125.150(9) lists eleven factors the court must consider — including each spouse’s financial condition, the length of the marriage, each spouse’s income, age, health and earning capacity, the standard of living during the marriage, and the contribution of either spouse as homemaker. The full list, and what the statute says about each, is covered in how alimony is calculated in Nevada. The statute makes the list non-exclusive: the court may also weigh “any other factors the court considers relevant.”

For education-and-training alimony, subsection 10 adds two specific considerations: whether the spouse who would pay obtained greater job skills or education during the marriage, and whether the spouse who would receive it provided financial support while the other spouse gained those skills or education.

Can alimony be changed after the divorce?

Sometimes. NRS 125.150(8) draws a line between payments that have already come due and payments that have not. Alimony payments that have already accrued cannot be modified. Future periodic payments, however, may be modified “upon a showing of changed circumstances,” whether or not the court expressly kept jurisdiction to do so.

The statute also defines one situation that automatically counts: under NRS 125.150(12), a change of 20 percent or more in the gross monthly income of the spouse ordered to pay alimony “shall be deemed to constitute changed circumstances requiring a review for modification.” And when any modification request is heard, the court must consider whether the paying spouse’s income, as shown on the prior year’s federal tax return, has dropped so far that the spouse is financially unable to pay the ordered amount.

When does alimony end?

NRS 125.150(6) supplies the default termination rules for periodic payments: if either party dies, or the spouse receiving the payments remarries, “all the payments required by the decree must cease, unless it was otherwise ordered by the court.” So a decree can provide differently — for example, by making payments non-terminable — but absent such an order, remarriage of the recipient or the death of either party ends periodic alimony. The statute does not attach the same automatic cut-off to a lump-sum award, which is a fixed obligation stated in the decree.

Can a couple decide alimony by agreement?

Nevada law leaves substantial room for private agreement. NRS 125.150 applies “unless the action is contrary to a premarital agreement between the parties which is enforceable pursuant to chapter 123A of NRS” — the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act. Under NRS 123A.050, parties to a premarital agreement may contract about “the modification or elimination of alimony or support or maintenance of a spouse.” That power has limits: NRS 123A.080 makes a premarital agreement unenforceable if it was not signed voluntarily, was unconscionable when executed and made without fair financial disclosure — and even an enforceable alimony waiver can be overridden to the extent it would leave a spouse eligible for public assistance at the time of separation or divorce.

Divorcing spouses can also settle alimony in a marital settlement agreement that the court approves as part of the decree; once approved, the decree’s terms on accrued payments are fixed, and its terms on future payments follow the modification rules described above. How settlement fits into the overall process is covered in the guide to divorce in Nevada.