My wife and I divorced in 2018. How do I best allocate income from farm rental and mineral royalties and medical deductions?

[donmcbroom]

Should pre-divorce farm income and royalties be split equally up until the final decree?

Should medical deductions be split equally or by each partner's expenses?

Same question for home mortgage interest and donations.

Thank you!

[Carl]

What does your divorce agreement/decree say about the division of assets? That's what you follow.

[TaxGuyBill]

In most cases, the Divorce Decree should address all of those things.  If the divorce is not final when the tax return is due, filing an extension for the tax return is the best option.  If the divorce is already final and it was not addressed, you may need to go back to the divorce lawyers (or to lawyers that are smart enough to have included that in the original divorce).

If the Divorce Decree does not address those items, then the income is based on each of your ownership in that activity.  So if both of you own 50%, then each would report 50%.  For the expenses, it would be based on the amount that each of you actually pay.  If the payments came from a Joint account, the rules could vary from State to State.  But again, all of this SHOULD be addressed in the Divorce Decree.  

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

I'll just close this out by saying the same thing; discuss with your attorney, or consult an accountant.

For personal expenses and deductions (mortgage, charities, medical), they can be divided in any way you agree.  Generally, you would deduct them based on who paid the expenses.  For example, if you are a member of a church and your ex is not, you would probably claim all the tithes as a deduction.  You might split the mortgage 50/50, or based on your relative incomes. (In the year I separated from my wife, our income was 40/60 so that's how we split expenses.)

Business things might be split according to business activity.  If the farm and mineral rents are from jointly owned land, that might be jointly split.

If you live in a community property state, there may be a legal requirement to split all pre-divorce income and expenses 50/50.

If you are at all unclear, or not in agreement with your ex, you really need professional representation.