Alimony, or spousal support, is money paid by one spouse to another when a couple gets divorced. The general purpose of alimony is to help a spouse meet his or her needs after the marriage ends. In Massachusetts, either party to a divorce has the option to waive the right to receive alimony. When a couple’s ante nuptial agreement contains an alimony waiver, there are certain factors a court must consider in deciding whether the agreement is valid. If you are going through a divorce, consider speaking with an attorney who has experience in family law. Alimony laws can be difficult to understand. An attorney can look at your individual circumstances and help you decide whether waiving alimony is right for you. Under Massachusetts’s law, alimony can be waived by a prenuptial, or ante nuptial, agreement. An ante nuptial agreement is an agreement that a couple enters into prior to getting married. Courts scrutinize alimony waiver clauses in such agreements very closely. Essentially, in order for an alimony waiver clause to be enforceable, the court must find that: The agreement was valid at the time it is executed; and The agreement was fair and reasonable at the time of the parties’ divorce. In deciding whether an agreement is fair and reasonable, courts consider a number of factors. These factors include the age, intelligence, literacy level, earning capacity, and financial circumstances of each spouse. Courts will generally accept waivers of alimony unless one spouse will be left without enough property, income,

Many divorce settlements and court orders will include provisions for spousal support (“alimony”) and child support. Aside from questions of how these amounts are to be calculated, and additional consideration must be how each of the spouses must treat alimony sums with regard to federal and Massachusetts tax laws. This post provides a brief introduction to how the Internal Revenue Service considers alimony for federal tax purposes. The general rule is that the tax consequences for alimony payments depend on whether you are the person paying or receiving spousal support. If you are the person making the payments, you can use Form 1040 or Form 1040NR to deduct those payments from your income, while if you are the person receiving the payments then you need to declare those sums as income. Note, however, that there are conditions that the IRS imposes on what constitutes a payment of alimony, and rules that determine whether a payment qualifies as alimony. Not all amounts paid from one spouse to another will be considered to be spousal support for tax purposes. For example, the following are not considered to be alimony by the IRS: Child support (this applies the reverse of the alimony rule, meaning that the payer cannot deduct child support from income and the recipient does not need to declare such sums as income) Noncash property settlements Use of the property of the payer, or amounts spent to maintain the payer’s property Payments that are part of the community income of your

Experts agree, the family structure in Massachusetts and throughout the United States is changing. A high school degree is no longer enough to land a well-paying blue collar position that promises a cushioned life. These economic shifts impact more than the number of people who are living at and below the poverty line, they also impact divorce cases, when disparity of income applies. Those who have a higher education and a college degree are less likely to experience divorce when compared to someone who only holds a high school diploma. This is due to the fact that there are often few benefits to entering a marriage when one is already successful on their own. In cases where both individuals hold college degrees, income is often equal and stressors within the marriage are significantly lower. In some situations, only one spouse brings in the income that supports both individuals and any children that they may have, even if they both hold college degrees. This might be due to the working spouse’s career choices or other circumstances that ultimately cause the unemployed spouse to stay home. When these couples experience divorce, the spouse that has been home may be entitled to receiving spousal support from the other. Contributions to the marriage are a determining factor in deciding if alimony will be required from one spouse, but a disparity in income can also play a significant role. Divorce cases in which alimony is paid are becoming more frequent with changing family dynamics and

One of the biggest events in Massachusetts divorce law to come down in recent years was the overhaul and reform of alimony law. This reform brings back the formerly eliminated idea of lifetime alimony. In 2012, a court order required termination of alimony benefits once the payer reached retirement age. This law was intended to apply to all payers of alimony rather than just those who divorced after March, 2012, but this was not always the case in practice. Recent appeals courts have now issued decisions to end those reform benefits. Three different decisions in January of 2105 have ended the retirement provision in these reforms for those who were divorced prior to the March 2012 cutoff date. Now, modifications to the termination of alimony that were initiated under the reformed alimony laws can only be rescinded if the former recipient of the alimony requests it. Certainly this is problematic for those left in uncertain gray areas who don’t know where they stand. The process of legislation reform regarding alimony law is ongoing, but if you are in this situation and need your rights protected, you would do well to speak to your divorce attorney. The new laws can be confusing and difficult to understand and navigate, and even if you’ve been divorced for years, a qualified divorce attorney will know how to help you best. They can explain where you stand, and help you to work within the bounds of the law to ensure that your alimony agreement remains