Divorce & Marriage Issues

If your parents are separated or divorced, the Custodial parent is responsible for filling out the FAFSA. The custodial parent is the parent with whom you lived the most during the past 12 months. This is not necessarily the same as the parent who has legal custody. If you did not live with one parent more than the other, the parent who provided you with the most financial support should fill out the FAFSA. This is probably the parent who claimed you as a dependent on their tax return. If you have not received any support from either parent during the past 12 months, use the most recent calendar year for which you received some support from a parent or lived with either parent.

IRS Publication 971 explains the 3 types of innocent spouse relief available. It describes who may qualify for innocent spouse relief, the separation of liability or equitable relief and how to apply. Go to the IRS website at www.irs.gov.

Social Security benefit records do not have the ability to name specific beneficiaries. The Social Security Act specifies which family members can receive benefits on your record when you retire, die or become disabled.
The social security administration cannot pay benefits to people who do not meet the requirements of the law, nor can they refuse to pay benefits to people who do meet those requirements. This is true even if you ask the social security administration not to.
Any payments made to your former spouse based on your record will not affect the amounts that can be paid to a subsequent spouse or your children.

A noncustodial parent may claim his or her child(ren) on his or her tax return if the custodial spouse signs IRS Form 8332.
It is the Release of Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents. The signed Form 8332 must be attached to the noncustodial tax return each year.
A noncustodial parent can ask the custodial parent to sign Form 8332 Part I which is a release of Claim to Exemption for future years.
If this part is signed then the noncustodial parent may photocopy this form each year and attach it to the tax return.

Generally, the wording in the divorce or separation decree identifies the payments as Alimony or something other than Alimony, such as child support.
Alimony is income to the recipient and an adjustment to income for the payer.
Generally, for payments to be considered alimony, seven characteristics should be present. The payments are in cash or check. The payment must be paid under a divorce decree or separation instrument. The divorce decree or separation agreement cannot designate the payment as a payment which is not deductible by the payer or includable in gross income by the recipient. The recipient and the payer must not be members of the same household. The payments must not be treated as child support. The taxpayer and spouse may not file a joint return with each other. There must not be a liability to make any payment for any period after the death of the spouse.

An Alimony trust is a formal trust arrangement where the beneficiary of the trust is the ex-spouse entitled to alimony payments. The settler or person who contributes property to the trust is the ex-spouse obligated to make the alimony payments.
The taxpayer may establish a post death "testamentary" trust or a living "inter vivos" trust to provide for the alimony payments required by a divorce decree or an agreement between the parties.

When both alimony and child support are made together in a monthly payment, it is presumed that child support is paid first.
If your husband did not pay the full amount in a month or many months, then you need to pick up as income the difference over the child support amount for that month as alimony and income on your tax return.
It is reported on IRS Form 1040, page 1.

A noncustodial parent does not lose the right to claim the child's medical expenses (health insurance, drs, dentists prescription drugs etc) as a itemized deduction on IRS Schedule A (subject to the 7.5% AGI limitation) if both the custodial and noncustodial parent together provide more than half of the support of the child and either had custody for at least six months during the year.

No. There is no minimum payment period. Recapture of alimony amounts may apply where payments decrease by more than $15,000 within the first three years of the divorce.