New Jersey family law allows the Court to order a party to pay one or more of the following types of alimony: permanent alimony, rehabilitative alimony, limited duration alimony, and reimbursement alimony. When determining whether to award alimony to a party, the Court considers the following: 

1. The actual need and ability of the parties to pay;
2. The duration of the marriage or civil union;
3. The age, physical and emotional health of the parties;
4. The standard of living established in the marriage or civil union and the likelihood that each party can maintain a reasonably comparable standard of living;
5. The earning capacities, educational levels, vocational skills, and employability of the parties;
6. The length of absence from the job market of the party seeking maintenance;
7. The parental responsibilities for the children;
8. The time and expense necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the party seeking maintenance to find appropriate employment, the availability of the training and employment, and the opportunity for future acquisitions of capital assets and income;
9. The history of the financial or non-financial contributions to the marriage or civil union by each party including contributions to the care and education of the children and interruption of personal careers or educational opportunities;
10. The equitable distribution of property ordered and any payouts on equitable distribution, directly or indirectly, out of current income, to the extent this consideration is reasonable, just and fair; 
11. The income available to either party through investment of any assets held by that party;
12. The tax treatment and consequences to both parties of any alimony award, including the designation of all or a portion of the payment as a non-taxable payment; and
13. Any other factors which the court may deem relevant.

New Jersey Family Law: Types of Alimony

Reimbursement alimony may be awarded under circumstances in which one party supported the other while he or she was obtaining an advanced degree, anticipating participation in the fruits of the earning capacity generated by that education.  When a marriage is of a long duration and caused one spouse to become financially dependent on the other, the Court may consider an award of permanent alimony in order to allow that spouse to maintain the standard of living they to which they have become accustomed. Limited duration alimony may be awarded to a spouse with a significantly lower income for a period that the Court considers reasonable for that spouse to increase their earning capacity to a level where alimony is no longer appropriate. Rehabilitative alimony is a short-term award that is meant to enable a spouse to obtain job training or a college degree in order to re-enter the workforce.