Barry v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo. 2017-237, 2017 WL 5899406 (2017) (a) Facts: When the parties were divorced, the husband agreed to pay the wife $2,400 per month in alimony. Twenty-four years later, the husband filed an action against the wife in federal court for breach of contract, arguing that…
Logue v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo. 2017‑234, 2017 WL 5713945 (2017) (a) Facts: The parties entered into a premarital agreement. The agreement provided, among other things, that the wife would receive, upon divorce, a lump sum of $100,000, plus $10,000 for each year the parties were married. The parties married…
Leslie v. Comm’r, 725 F. App’x 597 (9th Cir. 2018) (unpublished) (a) Facts: A husband and wife signed a separation agreement to settle a California divorce case. In a section entitled “Spousal Support,” the agreement awarded the wife $7,000 per month, stating expressly that it would end upon either party’s…
Hexum v. Comm’r, 721 F. App’x 512 (7th Cir. 2018) (unpublished) (a) Facts: The parties were divorced in Illinois. The wife remained in the former marital home, and the husband was ordered to pay the mortgage. Upon an eventual sale of the home, the parties were to split the net…
As has been widely reported, Congress has repealed I.R.C. §§ 71 and 215, thereby eliminating the federal tax reduction for alimony. In addition, Congress has repealed former I.R.C. § 61(a)(8), which expressly defined alimony as taxable income. In tax years governed by the new law, alimony will be taxable income…
Dear Carolyn: My ex and I share the children fifty-fifty. We have three children. I make approximately $25,000 more than the other parent. I pay child support even though I have them half the time. Our child support order says nothing about who gets the dependency exemptions, and I get…
Forget it! Forget about the alimony deduction for all new decrees or instruments post-2019. (See Part I for modification of pre-2019 alimony orders and agreement, as modification has a separate set of rules.) The deduction is gone absent a congressional miracle. That means on December 31, 2018, or before you…
Previously, we examined the paragraph and subparagraphs defining “divorce or separation instruments.” Now let’s take a look at which sections of TCJA incorporate these subparagraphs. Sections incorporating all three subparagraphs of the definition of divorce or separation instrument Post-2018. The two sections of TCJA that adopt all three subparagraphs of…
The repeal of the alimony tax sections for the inclusion of income and deduction has an ancillary impact on other divorce tax issues. The effective date for all ancillary issues discussed in this article is December 31, 2018, the same as the alimony repeal. These December 31, 2018, changes shall…
Divorce was hard enough, and now alimony tax reform. Do you feel good or bad about alimony? No matter your answer, this alimony tax reform revolutionizes the divorce arena, and you need to know how it may affect you and your clients. Judges need to know how it might affect…