The rest of what we have written about Arizona. Every figure is quoted from Arizona’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Dividing property and money in an Arizona divorce
The money picture for a divorce in Arizona: how property gets divided, what Arizona calls spousal support and how it is decided, whether one spouse can be made to pay the other’s legal fees while the case is running, and — the part nobody publishes — whether Arizona’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
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Every claim is traced to Arizona’s own statute, court rule or revenue department, quoted where the wording carries the meaning. Where we could not verify something, the page says so instead of filling the space. Information, not legal advice — and tax questions in particular need a professional in your state. Corrections: thecusp.app/corrections.
The short version6 points · tap one to jump to it
- Does Arizona follow the federal alimony rule? — Since 2019, federal law has treated alimony as not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient, for any instrument executed after 31 December 2018.
- How property is divided — Arizona is a community property state.
- Spousal maintenance — Arizona calls it spousal maintenance.
- Child support — Arizona uses the income shares model — both parents’ incomes go into the calculation, and the result is apportioned between you.
- Who pays for the lawyers — A fee award that only arrives at final judgment is close to worthless to someone who could not afford a lawyer during the case.
- The thing worth knowing about Arizona
In this subject 8
Does Arizona follow the federal alimony rule?
The short version6 points · tap one to jump to it
- Does Arizona follow the federal alimony rule? — Since 2019, federal law has treated alimony as not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient, for any instrument executed after 31 December 2018.
- How property is divided — Arizona is a community property state.
- Spousal maintenance — Arizona calls it spousal maintenance.
- Child support — Arizona uses the income shares model — both parents’ incomes go into the calculation, and the result is apportioned between you.
- Who pays for the lawyers — A fee award that only arrives at final judgment is close to worthless to someone who could not afford a lawyer during the case.
- The thing worth knowing about Arizona
In this subject 8
Since 2019, federal law has treated alimony as not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient, for any instrument executed after 31 December 2018. Most people assume every state followed. Most did. Not all.
Arizona’s income tax starting point is the taxpayer’s federal adjusted gross income, and Arizona is a fixed-date conformity state — the Department of Revenue’s own term — with the date moved forward by the legislature each session in A.R.S. § 43-105, which now carries a separate subsection for every tax year back to 2015. The Department of Revenue’s year-by-year conformity notices (2018 through the present) list no addition/subtraction addressing alimony, meaning Arizona has never decoupled from the TCJA’s repeal of the alimony deduction/inclusion — the federal AGI figure Arizona starts from already reflects that repeal for post-2018 instruments.
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return.
On 18 September 2026 we put the question to the Arizona Department of Revenue’s Tax Policy unit, and it answered the same day:
“The starting point for the Arizona income tax computation for a full-year Arizona resident is the federal adjusted gross income (Arizona gross income). This amount is subject to certain additions (A.R.S. § 43-1021) and subtractions (A.R.S. § 43-1022) to arrive at Arizona taxable income. Neither of these statutes include a provision to adjust alimony payments made or received.”
Which is the whole answer, with both section numbers, from the Department rather than from our reading. We asked because everything above was an inference from the absence of a modification, and an inference is not a source. What fifteen state revenue departments told us sets out the others.
Source: Arizona Department of Revenue, ‘Conformity to IRC’ (azdor.gov/about/legal-research/conformity-irc), describing annual reconformity of A.R.S. § 43-105 and confirming the starting point for the Arizona return is federal adjusted gross income · source
Conformity: fixed date, advanced by statute each session — for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025, Arizona uses the Internal Revenue Code as in effect on January 1, 2026, “but excluding any changes to the code enacted after January 1, 2026” (A.R.S. § 43-105(A), statute). Confirmed in writing by the Arizona Department of Revenue, 28 September 2026, which named fixed-date conformity and quoted § 43-105(A) verbatim; it is an information letter, not a private taxpayer ruling. The Department’s published Conformity to IRC explainer still describes January 1, 2024. On 30 September 2026 the Department confirmed the conformity bill reference in writing — HB 4168 — and said its website “will soon be updated accordingly.” So for now the Department’s own published explainer and the Department’s own written answer disagree, and the statute is what governs. If you check azdor.gov and find January 1, 2024, that is the page being out of date rather than this one.
Nationally: 37 states follow the federal rule, 9 have no income tax, and 4 are decoupled. The full fifty-state table and what each decoupled state does differently.
How property is divided
Arizona is a community property state. Property acquired during the marriage is generally owned by both of you, and the starting point is a division of that community estate rather than an open-ended fairness inquiry.
the court shall assign each spouse’s sole and separate property to such spouse… the court shall also divide the community, joint tenancy and other property held in common equitably, though not necessarily in kind, without regard to marital misconduct
Source: A.R.S. § 25-318(A)
Spousal maintenance
Arizona calls it spousal maintenance. Using the state’s own word matters when you are searching for forms or reading a statute.
guideline formula
A formula makes the outcome far more predictable than in a factors-only state — run it before you negotiate, not after.
The supreme court shall establish guidelines for determining and awarding spousal maintenance… The amount of spousal maintenance resulting from the application of the guidelines shall be the amount… ordered by the court, unless the court finds… inappropriate or unjust
Source: A.R.S. § 25-319
Child support
Arizona uses the income shares model — both parents’ incomes go into the calculation, and the result is apportioned between you.
Whichever model applies, this is the most predictable number in your case — there is a formula and a presumption that its output is correct. Deviating from it takes written findings. Run it early; it is free, and it anchors everything else.
Guideline: A.R.S. § 25-320 and the Arizona Child Support Guidelines (Ariz. Sup. Ct. Admin. Order)
Who pays for the lawyers
Fee-shifting provision: A.R.S. § 25-324(A)
The court from time to time, after considering the financial resources of both parties and the reasonableness of the positions each party has taken throughout the proceedings, may order a party to pay a reasonable amount to the other party for the costs and expenses of maintaining or defending any proceeding
A fee award that only arrives at final judgment is close to worthless to someone who could not afford a lawyer during the case. By then it is over. An interim award is what stops a wealthier spouse winning by attrition.
If you are the lower earner, this is the single most actionable thing on this page. Ask at the first meeting, in these words: “Can we move for an interim award of attorney fees now?” Do not let “we will deal with fees at the end” pass unexamined.
Separately, if custody is contested you may be ordered to pay for a guardian ad litem or a custody evaluator, and the court decides how to split that. What that costs in Arizona, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about Arizona
Arizona’s spousal maintenance is one of the few in the country governed by a binding statewide advisory guideline formula rather than pure judicial discretion: A.R.S. § 25-319(B) requires the Arizona Supreme Court to publish guidelines, and the guideline-calculated amount becomes the ordered amount unless the court makes a written finding that applying it would be inappropriate or unjust.