Spousal Support-California

[10409000]

Hi everyone, so I have a client. he says he is still married to his spouse and his filing status is married filing separate. He told me that he pays Alimony and that they were legally separated back in 2013 but still married and as of today 13 years later he is still paying alimony... does that even make sense? IS this normal..or in order to even pay out alimony you have to be 100% divorced? Im so confused i dont know the law about alimony/divorce/legal separation. I was talking about this client today with someone and they said something doesnt sound right. Should I ask to see the separation/divorce agreement or do most preparers just take the clients word for it? I feel like i should ask to see the separation agreement and hopefully its black and white and easy to read as i never seen one before. The clients lived in california and got separated in california... but the client just moved to Georgia. 

[sjrcpa]

It's possible. 

First, is there really a legal separation agreement? This is a specific legal thing. In my practice I've only seen one a couple of times. And I've been around for a lot of years.

Is the "alimony" court ordered?

Do some research on what constitutes alimony under the Internal Revenue Code.

As I learned today, there is no such thing as a legal separation in NJ. FWIW.

[Murtaza_Ismail_CPA]

In which states are the the taxpayers from? Or in which state did the taxpayer get separated?

Marriage, Divorce, and Separation rules are dictated by states. For example, in state of Texas, you do not have to be legally married to be considered married (common law marriage).

[BobKamman]

It is not uncommon for a court to order spousal maintenance (often, at the stipulated request of the parties) pending a divorce.  At least in states like California.  Don't you read the fanzines, about Hollywood breakups?  For more information, see:

https://selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/spousal-support

I've seen only one "decree of legal separation," many years ago, and as I recall it was because the wife still wanted the husband to have the insurance coverage from her job.  Other reasons are to preserve pension benefits, or to avoid violation of religious beliefs.  

[qbteachmt]

Are you using the IRS resources to learn what they call things and how to treat it? I googled:

what is alimony IRS

for you, and got this topic:

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc452

[taxes96786]

If they are still married and the alimony is not by court order then it doesn't qualify as alimony. You need a copy of the court ordered document.

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc452