Rehabilitative maintenance is support intended to help a spouse become self-sufficient through education, training, reentry into the workforce, or the transition period needed to find appropriate employment. It is time-limited and focused on the receiving spouse's path to self-sufficiency.

Rehabilitative maintenance is most appropriate for a spouse who has real earning capacity that needs to be developed or reactivated. It is not called this in practice but it is part of the analysis to incorporate into the arguments for spousal maintenance.

The duration of rehabilitative maintenance should match the realistic timeline for self-sufficiency rather than a generic timeframe.