Retirement benefits in a divorce

[Nurnybird]

I had a divorce (Dissolution) in a community property state (Calif) in 2003 that included a provision that my ex was entitled to half of my civil service (federal) retirement at the time of dissolution. Here in 2020 she has been collecting half of retirement until a fixed amount is received and then I receive full share.  The retirement was listed as community property when declaring property at time of dissolution.  The question is can I claim this as alimony, when in the court order it specifies it as spousal support.

[DavidD66 · Accepted solution]

It sounds like you have a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO).  This is a judicial order in a divorce or legal settlement that splits a retirement or pension plan by recognizing joint marital ownership interests in the plan.  A QDRO's recognition of spousal ownership interest in a plan participant's (employee's) pension plan awards a portion of the plan participant's benefit to an alternate payee. An alternate payee must be a spouse, former spouse, child or other dependent of the plan participant. A QDRO may also be entered for spousal support or child support. 

While alimony and spousal support are the same thing, payments that may otherwise qualify as alimony aren’t deductible by the payer if they are the recipient spouse's part of community income. They are deductible by the payer as alimony and taxable to the recipient spouse only to the extent they are more than that spouse's part of community income.

Based on what you have included in your question, I say the payments are NOT deductible as alimony/spousal support.

[Nurnybird]

Thanks for the reply - I was thinking along the same lines, but didn't want to miss out on a possible deduction.  Appreciate the response.