What is Alimony? 

How Long Do You Have to Be Married to Get Alimony or How Long Do You Have to Pay Alimony?

In most cases how long alimony must be paid is a factor of the length of the marriage. If the marriage was less than 5 years, alimony or maintenance typically lasts a year or less. Sometimes alimony payments may not be ordered by the family courts at all for very short marriages. With marriages that are longer than five years, the divorce alimony rules determining how long you have to pay (or how long you are entitled to receive) are typically based on a 4% increase in time for each year of marriage. So how long does alimony last? Here’s a quick way to look at it. If you were married less than 5 years, then maintenance will last about 20% of the duration of the marriage (or less than a year). If you were married precisely five years, then the percentage is moved to 24%, married six years the rate is increased to 28% of the duration of the marriage, etc. Thus, a union of 10 years would have an alimony duration of 4.4 years. Every marriage is different, but the above is a general guide until you reach 20 years of marriage. While 19 years of marriage would have a factor of 80% of the duration of the marriage resulting in alimony payments for about 15.2 years, alimony after 20 years of marriage is treated differently. In marriages lasting over 20 years, the court may order alimony or maintenance for the duration of the marriage or possibly for life. So, even though there are great guidelines to help determine how long alimony may last, it is still best to seek professional advice from a seasoned divorce attorney like Weiss-Kunz & Oliver, LLC.

Is Alimony Taxable or Is Alimony Tax Deductible?

This used to be a straightforward answer. However, since 2018 there’s a new tax law, and alimony can now be considered income in some cases. Therefore, now one of the most common questions we see about alimony is taxation. In essence, our clients want to know, “Is alimony taxable?” When comparing alimony vs child support regarding tax matters, remember that child support is never deductible but whether or not alimony is taxable becomes a bit more confusing.

While we always refer a client to their accountant for absolute clarity, generally, if your divorce or separation agreement was executed after 2018, then the alimony payments received are not taxable and not included in your gross income. The same is true for those paying alimony; payments made cannot be deducted from the income of the person paying the alimony for any divorce or separation agreement executed after 2018. There are nuances here though, for example, if there was a modification after 2018 to a divorce executed prior to 2019 then there are factors that need to be looked at in detail. Further, if there are child support payments and alimony/maintenance payments involved but some of the payments were not made, then the child support payments (which, again, are never taxable) get applied before the alimony payments (which generally are taxable/deductible after 2018). The IRS has a great resource page to help discover what may apply to your specific divorce case. But, taxation in regards to alimony or maintenance is something we recommend seeing a professional about to take into consideration your exact situation. Know that Weiss-Kunz & Oliver, LLC has experience in this area to assist you if you choose to work with us on your specific alimony tax deduction questions.

What To Do When Court-Ordered Alimony Is Not Being Paid

There are many options to take when the other party thinks they discovered how to get out of alimony. How to fight alimony non-payment is complicated and most definitely will require a consult with an alimony lawyer to determine the best path to get your alimony received as court-ordered. Weiss-Kunz & Oliver, LLC has helped many clients determine a strategy on how to fight alimony complications which may arise after a divorce.