Couples in Maryland or elsewhere who have gone through a divorce may understand that the Christmas season can be particularly rough when there are children involved. It can be difficult to arrange the celebrations of multiple families while taking the specified visitation schedules of the parents into account. Regardless of the time of year, child custody is of utmost concern to many parents, and reports indicate support is gaining for a newer type of arrangement.
New tax law regarding alimony goes into effect in 2019
Many Maryland couples and others all around the nation will soon be ringing in the new year on Jan. 1, 2019. While a time for celebration, it will also be a time for change for those divorcing couples who have yet to make alimony or spousal support arrangements. A new law will go into effect that day that has major implications on the taxation of alimony payments prospectively.
Gray prenuptial agreements on the rise as more older couples wed
Statistics from a leading research company have shown that older Maryland couples and others around the nation are divorcing at a rapid rate. While the divorce rate for all couples is actually decreasing, it has doubled for couples over age 50 and even tripled for those over age 65. The term "gray divorce" has been coined to acknowledge this trend. With gray divorces increasing, there has also been an uptick in the number of gray prenuptial agreements being sought.
2019 will bring changes to the way alimony is taxed
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed roughly a year ago and several changes were instituted at the beginning of 2018 for Maryland taxpayers and others around the country. However, one significant revision will be effective until the year is over. Alimony will be taxed differently after the new year and this could cause a rush of activity to get divorces finalized before year end.
