Tax Implications of Divorce in Texas
Any divorce negotiation or property settlement can have important implications for either spouse's tax exposure. Although tax planning and review can be especially important in high net worth divorce cases, even relatively modest marital estates can feature important tax consequences in alimony, debt apportionment, or child support decisions. To learn how our experienced Austin or Houston lawyers can help expand your options and protect you from divorce tax traps, contact an experienced divorce taxation attorney at Bertolino LLP in both Austin and Houston.
Examples of common divorce situations that carry important tax implications are the following:
- The apportionment of tax deductions for children and child support payments between the spouses
- Tax liability for liquidation of capital assets to fund property division or lump-sum alimony payments
- Excessive alimony payments later re-characterized by the IRS as part of the property settlement, resulting in the disallowance of deductions in previous years
- Division between the spouses of current tax liabilities or refunds
We can help protect you from unpleasant surprises with the IRS by taking full account in your divorce of the tax implications of every property division, spousal maintenance, or child support issue that must be resolved in your case. Proper consideration of the tax consequences of these decisions, and how they are likely to favor or disfavor each spouse, can effectively increase the size of the marital estate to be divided by making tax reduction an explicit goal in your negotiation or litigation strategy.
Our experienced Austin and Houston attorneys can also help protect you from the risk that the IRS will later defeat the tax planning that went into your divorce settlement. We can move to incorporate language that specifically addresses tax considerations in the divorce decree. We can also document the negotiated arrangements by attaching an Agreement Incident to Divorce that demonstrates on your tax return the validity of your deductions.
Contact a Texas or Florida Tax Lawyer at Bertolino LLP
For specific advice about your legal alternatives concerning the tax implications of divorce, contact an experienced divorce lawyer at Bertolino LLP in both Austin and Houston. Bertolino LLP maintains offices in Miami. To reach an attorney in the Austin office, call 512.476.5757. For the Houston office, call 713.225.7474. For the Miami office, call 305.493.3747. You may also contact the firm by e-mail.
