- 7 - the statutory law of most States, alimony terminates at the death of the payee spouse unless the separation agreement or the divorce decree provides to the contrary. Therefore, in 1986, Congress struck the parenthetical under section 71(b)(1)(D) that provided for alimony treatment only if the divorce or separation instrument stated that there is no liability on behalf of the payor spouse to make the payments after the death of the payee spouse. See sec. 1843(b) of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Pub. L. 99-514, 100 Stat. 2085, 2853. But even after the 1986 amendment, if an obligation to make payments survives the death of the payee spouse under either the terms of the divorce decree or State law, then such payments will not be considered alimony. Thus, the 1986 amendment injected State law into the section 71(b) inquiry because, in order to distinguish alimony from property settlement, it may sometimes become necessary to consider State law to decide whether an obligation to make support payments survives the death of the payee spouse. The issue before us is whether the payments petitioner received pursuant to the provisional order were for her support, thus constituting alimony, or in the nature of a property settlement and therefore excludable from her gross income. 3(...continued) separation instrument states that there is no such liability).Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011