Divorce and Taxes: Alimony, Child Support, and Who Claims the Kids
Published November 4, 2026
Divorce also changes your federal return. This post covers the basics for the 2026 tax year, which you file in 2027. It uses the rules in IRS: Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals (2025 edition).
Your filing status on the last day of the year
Your marital status on December 31 decides which filing statuses you can use. If you have a final decree of divorce by the last day of the year, you are considered unmarried for the whole year. An interlocutory decree is not a final decree. If you are separated but have no final decree by that day, you are still married for the whole year. IRS: Pub. 504, Filing Status
Unmarried filers use single or, if they qualify, head of household. A person who is still married but living apart can sometimes be considered unmarried for head of household. The tests include filing a separate return, paying more than half the cost of the home, and having a qualifying child live there more than half the year. Your spouse must not have lived there during the last 6 months of the year. IRS: Pub. 501, Considered Unmarried
Alimony: the date of your agreement matters
Alimony is a payment to a spouse or former spouse made under a divorce or separation document. The tax rules depend on when that document was signed.
- Agreement signed after 2018: The payer cannot deduct alimony. The person who receives it does not include it in income.
- Agreement signed on or before December 31, 2018: The payer can deduct alimony, and the recipient must include it in income. This stays true unless the agreement is changed to say the new rules apply.
Source: IRS: Topic 452, Alimony and separate maintenance
Some payments are not alimony at all. Child support, property settlements, and most payments to keep up property owned by the payer do not count. Alimony must also be paid in cash, including checks and money orders. IRS: Pub. 504, Alimony
Child support is not taxable
The person who pays child support cannot deduct it. The person who receives it does not report it as income. A payment is child support if the divorce document says so. A payment also counts as child support if the amount drops when something happens to the child, such as the child moving out or starting a job.
If you pay less than the full amount your papers require, the money goes to child support first and then to alimony. IRS: Pub. 504, Alimony
Dividing property and retirement accounts
A transfer of property between spouses, or between former spouses, because of the divorce generally does not create a gain or loss. You may still need to report the transfer on a gift tax return. IRS: Pub. 504, Property Settlements
IRAs. Moving all or part of an IRA to a spouse or former spouse, under a divorce decree or a written agreement tied to the decree, is not a taxable transfer. After the transfer, the IRA belongs to the other person.
401(k)s, pensions, and other workplace plans. To split these plans, the usual tool is a qualified domestic relations order, or QDRO. A QDRO is a court order under state family law that gives a spouse, former spouse, child, or other dependent a share of plan benefits. It must include specific details, such as the amount or part of the benefits to be paid.
Money a former spouse receives under a QDRO is generally taxable to that spouse, as if they were the plan participant. However, the 10% additional tax on early distributions does not apply to payments from a qualified retirement plan to an alternate payee under a QDRO. The person can also roll the money tax free into an IRA or another qualified plan. IRS: Pub. 575, Pension and Annuity Income
Who claims the kids
The custodial parent is the parent the child lived with for the greater number of nights during the year. The other parent is the noncustodial parent. IRS: Pub. 504, Custodial parent and noncustodial parent
In most cases, the custodial parent can claim the child as a qualifying child. Even when the noncustodial parent claims the child for the child tax credit, the custodial parent can still claim head of household status, the credit for child and dependent care expenses, and the earned income credit, if eligible.
A noncustodial parent can claim the child tax credit and the credit for other dependents only if the custodial parent signs Form 8332 (release of claim to exemption), or a similar written statement. The noncustodial parent must attach a copy to their return each year the release applies. The form does not pass along the earned income credit.
The child must also meet several tests for the noncustodial parent to claim them. The parents must be divorced or legally separated, or have lived apart during the last 6 months of the year. The child must get more than half of their support from the parents. The child must live with one or both parents for more than half the year. IRS: Pub. 504, Children of Divorced or Separated Parents
Name changes and Social Security
If your name changes because of the divorce, notify the Social Security Administration. Use Form SS-5, Application for a Social Security Card. You can request the change online at SSA.gov, or get the form from a local SSA office. IRS: Pub. 504, Change of name
Checklist
- Find out your marital status on December 31. A final decree by that day makes you unmarried for the whole year.
- Keep your divorce decree and any separation agreement, with the date each was signed. Alimony rules depend on that date.
- Ask the plan administrator about a QDRO before you move retirement money.
- Update your name with the Social Security Administration after a name change.
For more on who can use head of household, read Head of Household: Who Qualifies.
General information, not advice for your return.
Sources: IRS: Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals, 2025 edition (https://www.irs.gov/publications/p504); IRS: Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information (https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501); IRS: Publication 575, Pension and Annuity Income, 2025 edition (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p575.pdf); IRS: Topic 452, Alimony and separate maintenance (https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc452); IRS: About Form 8332 (https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8332) This is general information, not advice about your specific return.
