Divorce money in Delaware: property, support, legal fees and whether the state taxes alimony
The money picture for a divorce in Delaware: how property gets divided, what Delaware 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 Delaware’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
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Every claim is traced to Delaware’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.
Does Delaware 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. Most people assume every state followed. Most did. Not all.
Delaware’s personal income tax return starts from the taxpayer’s federal adjusted gross income, which the Division of Revenue’s own guidance describes as ‘carried over’ directly onto the Delaware return, with only a specific enumerated set of Delaware additions/subtractions. No Delaware-specific alimony addback exists, so Delaware inherits the federal AGI figure, which for instruments executed after 2018 already reflects the TCJA’s non-deductible/non-taxable treatment.
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return.
Source: Delaware Division of Revenue, Personal Income Tax FAQs: ‘Income from out-of-state municipal bonds would be included in the federal adjusted gross income, which is carried over to the Delaware return’ · source
Conformity: rolling (Delaware taxable income begins from current-year federal AGI under 30 Del. C. § 1105, with no separate fixed IRC conformity date provision found)
Nationally: 36 states follow the federal rule, 9 have no income tax, 4 are decoupled, and 1 — Maine — we could not establish. The full fifty-state table and what each decoupled state does differently.
How property is divided
Delaware is an equitable distribution state. That means the court divides marital property fairly, which is not a synonym for equally. What counts as marital rather than separate property is frequently the whole argument.
the Court shall, upon request of either party, equitably divide, distribute and assign the marital property between the parties without regard to marital misconduct, in such proportions as the Court deems just after considering all relevant factors
Source: 13 Del. C. § 1513(a)
Alimony
Delaware calls it alimony. Using the state’s own word matters when you are searching for forms or reading a statute.
There is no guideline calculation. A judge weighs the statutory factors and reaches a number.
This is the norm and it is why alimony is the least predictable figure in a divorce. Two judges can reach different answers on the same facts and both be right. It also means the strength of your evidence about income, earning capacity and the standard of living during the marriage does real work.
Source: 13 Del. C. § 1512
Child support
Delaware uses the Melson formula — a three-step method used by only a handful of states, which reserves a self-support allowance before dividing what is left.
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: Delaware Child Support Formula (Melson Formula), applied under Del. Fam. Ct. Civ. R. 52(c)
How Delaware calculates child support, in detail
Who pays for the lawyers
Fee-shifting provision: 13 Del. C. § 1515
The Court from time to time after considering the financial resources of both parties may order a party to pay all or part of the cost to the other party of maintaining or defending any proceeding under this title and for attorneys’ fees, including sums for legal services rendered and costs incurred prior to the commencement of the proceeding or after the entry of judgment
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 Delaware, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about Delaware
Delaware invented the child support model it still uses: the ‘Melson Formula,’ devised by Delaware Family Court Judge Elwood F. Melson Jr., is a self-support-reserve-based model used by only a small number of jurisdictions nationally, distinct from both the income-shares and percentage-of-income models most other states use.