Judith D. Lawton - Page 10




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          in Commissioner v. Lester, 366 U.S. 299, 303 (1961), that it is             
          the "'written instrument' that must 'fix'" the portion of the               
          payment that is for child support.  Petitioner replies that                 
          Lester has been overruled by statute.  While it is true that the            
          result in Lester has been overruled by section 71(c)(2), the                
          principles of Lester still apply to cases to which the latter               
          provision does not.  See, e.g., Raymond v. Commissioner, T.C.               
          Memo. 1997-219; Ambrose v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1996-128.               
               Of course, the statutory requirements are satisfied when an            
          amount is payable entirely on behalf of the child.  See Sperling            
          v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1982-681, affd. 726 F.2d 948 (2d Cir.           
          1984)(college tuition payments).  But the language of the support           
          order in this case makes an unallocated award of support to                 
          spouse and child.  By making an unallocated award of support, in            
          view of the language of Pa. R. Civ. P. 1910.16-5(f), it appears             
          that the court of common pleas intended that the full amount of             
          the periodic payments would be taxable to petitioner and                    
          deductible by Mr. Lawton.  See Mannina v. Commissioner, T.C.                
          Memo. 1985-565.                                                             
               We observe also that the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984                 
          (DEFRA), Pub. L. 98-369, sec. 422(a), 98 Stat. 795-796, reenacted           
          as section 71(c)(1) the language of former section 71(b)(1)                 
          requiring the divorce or separation instrument to fix the amount            
          of child support.  In addition, DEFRA enacted "new" section                 





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