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In deciding the character of an award in a divorce or
separation decree, great weight is given to the language and
structure of the decree. Griffith v. Commissioner, 749 F.2d 11, 13
(6th Cir. 1984), affg. T.C. Memo. 1983-278. The decision of
whether payments are in the nature of support (that is, alimony) or
a property settlement, however, is not controlled by the labels
assigned to the payments by the court in the divorce decree or by
the parties in their agreement but, instead, depends upon all of
the facts and circumstances. Yoakum v. Commissioner, 82 T.C. 128,
140 (1984); Beard v. Commissioner, 77 T.C. 1275, 1283-1284 (1981).
Factors which indicate that the payments are in the nature of
a property settlement are: (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. Beard v. Commissioner, supra
at 1284-1285.
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