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deductible under section 215. See sec. 71(c). Alimony is any
payment in cash if:
(A) such payment is received by (or on behalf of)
a spouse under a divorce or separation instrument,
(B) the divorce or separation instrument does not
designate such payment as a payment which is not
includible in gross income under this section and not
allowable as a deduction under section 215,
(C) in the case of an individual legally separated
from his spouse under a decree of divorce or of
separate maintenance, the payee spouse and the payor
spouse are not members of the same household at the
time such payment is made, and
(D) there is no liability to make any such payment
for any period after the death of the payee spouse and
there is no liability to make any payment (in cash or
property) as a substitute for such payments after the
death of the payee spouse. [Sec. 71(b)(1).]
Child support is that part of a payment which the divorce or
separation instrument fixes as payable for the support of the
children of the payor spouse. See sec. 71(c)(1). An amount is
treated as fixed under section 71(c)(1) and thus treated as child
support if it will be reduced “on the happening of a contingency
specified in the instrument relating to a child (such as
attaining a specified age, marrying, dying, leaving school, or a
similar contingency),” sec. 71(c)(2)(A), or “at a time which can
clearly be associated with [such] a contingency.” Sec.
71(c)(2)(B).
Temporary regulations promulgated under section 71 provide
that payments which would otherwise qualify as alimony are
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Last modified: May 25, 2011