How a Louisiana Divorce Attorney May Approach Tax

Getting tax advice from a divorce attorney is generally fairly tough. Most family law lawyers recognize that there knowledge of tax is not sufficient to give professional legal advice on tax laws. Moreover, some specifically exclude giving tax advice in their legal services agreements. The author of this article, for instance, does not advice family law clients on the tax implications of the dispute that they present, as it may require a specialist in tax to give more appropriate answers. This being said, it would seem imprudent to have no knowledge of the some of the tax issues that arise in the course of family law.

One of the main issues that a divorce attorney faces is which parent will get the Federal and State tax dependency exemptions. When there is general parity between the spouses with regard to the amount of money that they make and the amount of time that they have with their child, it can be common for them to agree that they will alternate the years when each spouse may claim such an exemption. When things become contested, it is important to fall back on the law in order to make sure that which spouse gets the exemption is fair.

Alas, the law on this is not clear, however, but a divorce attorney may argue that both the custodial and non-custodial parent should be entitled to the dependency exemption. Some sections of the law state that it is the custodial party that has the right to claim the deduction. However, if the non-custodial spouse pays fifty percent or more of the child support, they may request from a court the right to get it and that the custodial parent execute all forms necessary (and their likely will be some) from the IRS to make sure that they will get the award. Along with the child tax credit, the party will also get the dependency exemption as these are not able to be split. The non-custodial parent will not be able to get the other tax credits such as the Head of Household, Dependent Care Credit, or Earned Income Credit regardless of a court order to the contrary by a Louisiana court.

Perhaps even more important than tax credits may be latent tax effects that are part of a community partition. While this may sound complicated (and is almost certainly beyond the scope of a divorce attorney), the general principle is that if an asset has gained in value during the marriage, the spouse that takes the asset also takes the tax liability (unless it is otherwise ordered by the court). This can be a problem with very large assets.

Somewhat less of a concern for a divorce attorney is how much tax will have to be paid on money received as child support or spousal support. Child support is not taxed (meaning it is not income to the recipient nor is it deductible to parent paying). Spousal support is income to the recipient and a deduction to the spouse paying. Though these are somewhat simple principles, the IRS has specific definitions of what spousal support making things complicated for a divorce attorney.

Will Beaumont is a lawyer in New Orleans. This article is informational, not legal advice.