New Tax Law may mean that NOW is the time to get divorced

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed by Congress and signed into law in December 2017, maintenance, what we used to call alimony, is no longer tax deductible. Currently under Missouri law, maintenance paid by one spouse to the other is taxable to the recipient and tax deductible to the paying spouse. All of that changes for divorce judgments signed after December 31, 2018. After that date, alimony/maintenance will be treated as tax neutral. This means it will NOT BE deductible to the paying spouse and will NOT BE treated as income to the receiving spouse. For all Judgments made prior to December 31, 2018, the tax treatment will remain status quo. If you are wondering about divorce, and think you may end up paying alimony, you should consider the timing of your divorce given the tax law.