Tennessee Alimony: The Four Types and the Factors

From The Mid-South Divorce Guide, chapter 17, by William W. Jones
IV, a Memphis family law attorney and Rule 31 Listed Family Mediator
licensed in Tennessee and Mississippi. This guide covers Shelby, Tipton
and Fayette Counties in Tennessee and DeSoto, Tate and Tunica Counties
in Mississippi.

Questions this page answers

• How is alimony decided in Tennessee?
• What are the types of alimony in Tennessee?
• How long does alimony last?
• Does cheating affect alimony in Tennessee?

Tennessee alimony is governed by Tennessee Code Annotated section
36-5-121, and Tennessee recognizes four types.

The four types

Rehabilitative alimony helps an economically
disadvantaged spouse achieve, with reasonable effort, an earning
capacity that allows a standard of living comparable to what they had
during the marriage or to what the other spouse will have after. It is
for the spouse who can get back on their feet with time and support. It
is modifiable, and it can be converted to alimony in
futuro if rehabilitation does not happen.

Transitional alimony helps a spouse adjust to the
economic consequences of divorce where rehabilitation is not needed. It
is a bridge, not a training program. It is generally not modifiable
unless the decree says otherwise.

Alimony in futuro, also called periodic alimony, is
long-term support for the spouse whose earning capacity is not going to
become sufficient. It is modifiable on a showing of a substantial and
material change in circumstances.

Alimony in solido is a definite total sum, which can
be paid in installments over a fixed period. It functions more like a
property award than like support. It is generally not modifiable and it
does not terminate on death or remarriage. Attorney’s fee awards are
often made as alimony in solido.

The legislature’s preference

This is the part that surprises people who have heard stories about
permanent alimony.

The statute expresses a legislative preference for rehabilitation
whenever possible. Long-term alimony in futuro is meant for cases where
rehabilitation is not feasible.

The Tennessee Supreme Court drove that home in Gonsewski v.
Gonsewski, 350 S.W.3d 99 (Tenn. 2011), which reversed a
long-term alimony award and made clear that an income disparity between
spouses is not by itself enough to justify alimony in futuro. There has
to be a reason rehabilitation will not work.

If you are the spouse hoping for lifetime support, understand that.
If you are the spouse fearing lifetime support, understand that too.

The factors

The court weighs a list that includes the relative earning capacity,
obligations, needs, and financial resources of each party; the relative
education and training of each and whether more is needed; the duration
of the marriage; the age and mental condition of each party; the
physical condition of each party; whether a party has custodial
responsibilities making outside employment inappropriate; separate
assets; the property division; the standard of living established during
the marriage; each party’s tangible and intangible contributions to the
marriage, including as homemaker and to the other’s education or career;
the relative fault of the parties where the court has allocated fault;
and other factors including tax consequences.

Two of those deserve a note. Need and ability to pay
are the twin engines of the whole analysis. Everything else is context.
And fault does matter here, unlike in property division
where the statute excludes it.

Modification and termination

Alimony in futuro terminates on the death of either party or the
remarriage of the recipient. If you remarry and keep cashing checks, you
have a problem, and a repayment obligation, and possibly a fee award
against you.

Cohabitation triggers a rebuttable presumption under section
36-5-121(f)(2)(B). If the recipient is living with a third person, the
law presumes either that the third person is contributing to the
recipient’s support or that the recipient is supporting them, and that
the need for the awarded amount has decreased. The court can then
suspend all or part of the obligation. It is rebuttable, meaning the
recipient gets to put on proof, but the burden has shifted.

Modification of alimony in futuro requires a substantial and material
change in circumstances that was not anticipated at the time of the
decree. Voluntarily quitting a good job to reduce your alimony is a
well-worn path that judges recognize on sight.

One more recent development

In Colley v. Colley, decided by the Tennessee
Supreme Court on April 29, 2025, the Court held that a former spouse who
successfully defends against a petition to modify alimony can be a
prevailing party entitled to attorney’s fees under Tennessee Code
Annotated section 36-5-103(c), even where the modification petition was
voluntarily dismissed before any decision on the merits.

Practical translation. Filing a modification petition and then
dropping it does not necessarily get you out of paying the other side’s
fees. Think before you file.

Download the whole guide. All 35 chapters plus four blank client forms, complimentary, no email required. Download The Mid-South Divorce Guide (PDF)

Questions about your own situation? The Jones Law Firm, 5100 Poplar Ave, Suite 708, Memphis, TN 38137. Call (901) 761-5353.