Spousal support factors and tax implications in divorce

¶ … dissolution of a marriage must provide monetary or other support to their ex-spouse and/or child (ren) from the marriage. Who supports who depends on who the income earners were in the marriage, how much each person earned and who has custody of the child. A child support directive can happen whether a marriage ever actually happened or not. On the other hand, spousal support would only apply when a legal marriage was consummated and is later dissolved. Both forms of support are meant to support the recipient and at least somewhat maintain the living standard they had pre-separation.

If a taxpayer provides 50% or less of another person's support, is it possible for the taxpayer to claim a dependency exemption?

Yes, it is possible ... but only for children. In the case of a qualifying relative, the support has to be at least one half. The IRS states clearly that "you must provide more than half of the person's total support for the year." For a child, there is no such requirement. However, the child must have lived with the person claiming the exemption for at least half the year, although there are exceptions. However, there is not a percentage requirement of support (IRS, 2015).

Does support include the value of an automobile?

Yes, to the extent that it can be includable as non-cash compensation and thus would have an effect on the income figures used to determine who should be supporting who in a dissolution and the amounts in question. As far as general support, a car payment would not generally be included. The amount of alimony payments would include factors like the income of each person in the divorce, the age/health of the paying spouse, the education and ability to maintain a standard of living when it comes to the paid ex-spouse, presence of children and so forth. In short, the automobiles in the divorce would be meted out thorough the divorce decree. If the recipient of the car cannot afford to keep the car given their income and/or spousal support, they will have to sell the car (Divorce Source, 2015; Alimony Calculator; 2015).

What items other than food, clothing and shelter are included in "support"?