Catherine H. Poole, f.k.a. Catherine H. Dames - Page 12

                                        -12-                                          
               This Court looks to the following factors which indicate that          
          payments are in the nature of a property settlement rather than a           
          support allowance: (1) The parties in their agreement (or the court         
          in its decree) intended the payments to effect a division of their          
          assets; (2) the recipient surrendered valuable property rights in           
          exchange for the payments; (3) the payments are fixed in amount and         
          not subject to contingencies, such as the remarriage or death of            
          the recipient; (4) the payments are secured; (5) the amount of the          
          payments plus the other property awarded to the recipient equals            
          approximately one-half of the property accumulated by the parties           
          during marriage; (6) the needs of the recipient were not taken into         
          consideration in determining the amount of the payments; and (7) a          
          separate provision for support was provided elsewhere in the decree         
          or agreement.  Benedict  v. Commissioner, 82 T.C. 573, 577-578              
          (1984); Beard v. Commissioner, supra at 1284-1285.  Failure to              
          satisfy one or more of the factors articulated herein may tend to           
          indicate that the payments in question are more in the nature of a          
          support allowance.  See Beard v. Commissioner, supra at 1285.               
               Applying the above factors, we conclude that Dr. Ibach's               
          payments to petitioner were in the nature of alimony.  Our analysis         
          of the factors in reaching our conclusion is as follows.                    
               With regard to the first factor, we believe the agreement was          
          intended to be a comprehensive and final settlement of all issues           
          regarding custody, support, visitation, alimony, and property               
          settlement between petitioner and Dr. Ibach.  Paragraph 9 provides          




Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011