How an Alimony Lawyer Can Help You Tremendously: Lessons from the Trenches
Do I need an Alimony Lawyer? What is alimony? Will I have to pay it? What are my chances of receiving it?
Maybe you seek an attorney to modify a complex arrangement you hammered out with your ex-spouse eight months ago. Or maybe you are still processing your spouse’s recent request for divorce, and you have no idea how alimony and child support work. In either case, you need trusted resources to deal with your challenges.
Calculating Alimony vs. Calculating Child Support
Kansas and Missouri state guidelines exist to help divorcing couples calculate child support. But you generally cannot use a similarly "cookie cutter" formula to calculate alimony. An alimony lawyer can be helpful in the process.
In a spousal support arrangement, typically, the higher income spouse provides a set, regular stipend to the lower income spouse to help him or her pay for living expenses and other costs.
Alimony payments are tax deductable. The recipient must include the money as part of his or her declared income, come tax time. Child support payments, however, are not tax deductable.
This may seem like a subtle, fine point. But it can lead to profound consequences for your divorce settlement. In some cases, you may actually want to increase your alimony payments to gain certain tax advantages.
An Alimony Lawyer Lists Factors That Influence Spousal Support Payment Calculations
Your alimony arrangement, if any, will ultimately depend on factors such as:
- Your income and your spouse’s income;
- One spouse’s need for support versus the other spouse's ability to pay support;
- How long the marriage lasted;
- The amount and nature of marital property;
- You and your spouse’s health and age;
In certain amicable divorces, the parties may hammer out an alimony arrangement that provides both with tax advantages.
Alimony Requirements
According to Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 71, alimony payments must be made in cash. You cannot trade services, property, or debt to satisfy your obligations. You also must have a written agreement that describes how the payments will work. If you’ve made informal child support payments for several months, for instance, you cannot “turn back the clock” and claim that those payments were alimony, for the sake of getting a tax deduction.
An alimony lawyer at Fletcher, Rohrbaugh & Chahine, LLP can help you make sense of your rights and obligations and calculate a strategic solution based on your tax needs, income, and other factors. Alimony arrangements are also not set in stone forever. To modify your arrangement, however, you will need experienced advice of an alimony lawyer.
Connect with Mark Rohrbaugh, an experienced alimony lawyer to learn about the benefits, differences, and drawbacks of different child support and alimony arrangements. Call (785) 322-4013, or learn more about our unique approach online.
Fletcher, Rohrbaugh & Chahine, LLP
843 New Hampshire
Lawrence KS 66064
Telephone: (785) 322-4013
Fax: (913) 390-8101