|
|
Divorce Guide |
Child support and alimonyDivorce brings with itself a number of contentions. Child Support and alimony are two most important areas of contention when couples get separated. Most of the couples disagree on these issues resulting in fierce court room battles. Both the issues are quite contentious as they involve financial matters. Divorce brings with itself a number of financial challenges. When the household falls apart and the earnings get divided then the situation requires whole lot of restructuring. When couples with children get divorced then one parent acquires the responsibility or custody of the child. This does not free the other parent from his responsibilities towards the children. The non custodial parent has to pay a fixed sum of money on regular basis to the other parent as a part of his contribution to the child expenses. The child support is normally paid till the child is 18 years old unless otherwise specified in the divorce decree. Similarly alimony is paid by the ex spouse to support the other after divorce. The rationale of alimony comes from the fact that now when the household of the couple is different each has to bear his own cost of living. The financially weaker partner gets money as maintenance or support from the ex spouse. The alimony can be permanent or temporary. A permanent alimony is for life whereas a temporary alimony is paid till the other person starts supporting himself or herself, or gets remarried. Thus we see that child support and alimony are closely related as both have financial stakes. If a person has to pay both at the same time he or she needs to do a careful planning of how to split child maintenance and spousal support. Paying both at the same time for many years to come can become cumbersome with time. Child support and spousal support bring enormous tax planning opportunities. The payer of the child support gets a number of tax benefits. Thus many people give alimony to their ex spouses under the name of the child support. For example, Timothy and Sandra were divorced and Sandra had the custody of the children. Sandra’s worked as a sales girl and her income was not sufficient to support the kid’s expenses like school fee, medical charges, and other miscellaneous expenses. Apart from this Sandra also needed money to support herself – house rent, food bills, electricity, and so on. In such circumstances Timothy had to pay alimony and child support in good amount. Timothy’s financial consultant suggested that Timothy pay all the money under child support to get tax benefits. Sandra also benefited in this way as Timothy gave her a share of the taxes that he saved yearly. In case you have to pay both spousal support and child maintenance, it would be a good idea to take advice from a tax consultant who can guide you the best way to split the two. Child support and alimony are two very important aspects of a divorce decree. The couples should sit together and plan the points carefully. Taking professional help in these two areas of divorce is advisable.
|
Divorce in Europe
Divorce and Children Divorce in AustraliaDivorce Guide
| |
|
|
|
|