I make double what she makes but have no deductions?

Question

I have had to keep paying house and loan payments not to mention keeping my attorneyup (37500.) My base salary is 56k.hers is 26k.she wantshouse ,my truck,all equity,boat,motorcycles,insurance coverage including copays,me to remain paying off the house,truck and boat ,all attorney fees,and 1500. per month maintenance for life.Now what do you all think of that? My 6th court date is 12/20/07

Answer 1

Okay, bad lawyer jokes aside...

First off, even in a community property state like California, anything you own prior to getting married is still yours. Its only items aquiered while married where a spouse has any possible legal claim to it. If you owned your truck, boat, motorcycle, etc. BEFORE you got married and they are in YOUR NAME, they are yours, she can't take them. Technically, the same goes for the house if it was YOURS BEFORE YOU EVEN MET HER, if you purchased the house for yourself and/or a previous partner, she has no valid claim to it (unless you changed the original paperwork to include her name after getting married).

Medical/Health Insurance - You may be legally requiered to insure your children after the divorce, but once the divorce is final you are no longer responsible for her since she is no longer your spouse. I seriously doubt you will have to pay HER maedical/health insurance. (See below for paying Medical/Heath co-pays and bills)

Regardless of whether she possesses a given piece of property (House, car, etc.) if she is having you pay for it all then tax-wise she cannot benefit. Once the divorce is final, any payments you make count only on your tax return, not hers. Make sure you keep thurough records of all your payments, so you can prove YOU made those payments and she did not. PAY DIRECTLY to the mortgage company or institution, DO NOT SEND THE MONEY TO HER, otherwise you won't have any proof that YOU were the one that actually made those payments.

**You may not have the house, but since YOU are the one paying all the mortgage and property taxes on it YOU are the only one that can put it on a Schedule-A and use them as part of you itemized deductions. SHE CANNOT CLAIM YOUR PAYMENTS TO THE MORTGAGE COMPANY FOR THE HOUSE.

**You may not have the car, boat, truck, or motorcycle, but since YOU are the one paying the personal property tax on them to register them with the city YOU are the only one that can put those payments on a Schedule-A for your itemized deductions. SHE CANNOT CLAIM YOUR PAYMENTS ON PERSONAL PROPERTY TAXES PAID TO THE CITY.

**Medical/Dental Co-Pays - Again, you may be legally responsible to pay some of your children's medical expenses, but you are not responsible for HER co-pays and medical expenses. At most, you should only need to pay 50% of your children's medical expenses, she should be paying the other 50% since it is also her responsibility. Any payments YOU made for yourself and for your children count as medical expense on your Schedule-A for itemized deductions, SHE CANNOT CLAIM YOUR PORTION OF PAYMENTS ONLY HER OWN.

Child Support - If the divorce decree requires you to pay "child support"... sorry, but there are no deductions or special tax considerations. DO NOT PAY babysitters/daycare for your kids unless the divorce decree allows you to claim them as a qualified dependent for that specific tax year. If she needs a sitter to go to work she can pay for it herself, that's part of what child support is for.

Alimony!!!
If any/all of that 1500 per mouth she is demanding is defined as ALIMONY by the divorce decree then YOU CAN DEDUCT THAT PORTION on your return [Form 1040, line 31a, "Alimony Paid"] and SHE MUST REPORT IT AS INCOME [Form 1040, line 11, "Alimony recieved"] so you will pay less taxes, she will pay more if alimony is involved.

If alimony is involved, then here's a bit of news that can keep you from having to pay her attorney fees for the divorce...

Her legal fees for the divorce if ALIMONY IS INVOLVED can be deducted on HER Schedule-A, line 23, under "other expenses". Normally, personal legal fees cannot be deducted unless it was to aquire taxable income. Recieving alimony is considered taxable income, so her legal fees for the divorce can be deducted... your legal fees for the divorce (or hers if you pay them) cannot be deducted because you are not the one recieving the alimony.

So, the trick is to point out the one thing in this she can actually deduct (all the legal fees involved that got her the alimony) that way the greedy ***** will pay her own legal fees.

Wanna know the cool part? It probably won't do her any good... Mwahahahhahha! =P

First off, only the portion of her legal fees that exceed $520 (i.e. 2% of her 26k) are actually deductible on Schedule-A, because of the threshold limit. Second, itemizing deductions (i.e. using a Shedule-A) only helps if the total amount (from medical expense, mortgage, property taxes, charitable contributions, etc.) is greater than her standard deduction (i.e. $5350 for single or $7850 for head of household) if it isn't it doen't help her. Considering, she hasn't paid much for any of the stuff listed on Schedule-A (other that her legal fees) it is unlikely she'll have enough. So, in this case she can't even get any tax benefit form it. =P


Don't get your hopes up though... the others are right, get a good lawyer, because if you don't settle correctly and actually sign over stuff you shouldn't be, you won't be able to do any of this stuff. Do your homework and research some more stuff with your lawyer before finalizing anything.

One last note... BE SURE TO CHANGE THE BENEFICIARIES on all your insurance policies, 401k, and will and take your ex-wife off of all of them and put your children or other family in her place. that way if anything happens to you nothing goes to her. Look into setting up your will so that anything going to your kids is put into a trust and managed by a neutral party that way your ex-can't rip off your kids from their inheritence.

FORM 1040
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf
Form Schedule-A
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sab.pdf
Form Schedule-A Instructions
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sa.pdf

Answer 2

I would get a new lawyer. That is ridiculous. Do you have kids together. I am asking that because you will have to provide medical insurance for your kids, but with a divorce, you can not insure her. You are no longer responsible for her and no insurance company will allow that. If she is awarded anything, she should have to mantain the payments. 1500 maintenance is alot for a person who only makes 56K a year. This woman is crazy!! Do you live in California? That would be the only state that may allow something like this.

Answer 3

What is this a divorce case? Family law attorneys fees aren't deductible with the exception for the portion of time where a lawyer may have advised you on tax matters.

What deductions are you talking about, anyway? Only the property taxes and paid mortgage interest is deductible.

Answer 4

Wow man. You're gonna need OJ's team of lawyers with the way things are looking now.

Answer 5

get the best lawyer you can and make sure she gets nothing even if you have to sell off your house, truck, equity, boat motorcycle. I'd rather burn everything then give it to her.

Answer 6

You sound like you have a horrible attorney. Get a different one.

Answer 7

What did you do to tick that woman off?

What do I think? I think you need a better lawyer.