Divorce money in Massachusetts: property, support, legal fees and whether the state taxes alimony
The money picture for a divorce in Massachusetts: how property gets divided, what Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
See a different stateMassachusetts
Every claim is traced to Massachusetts’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 Massachusetts 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.
Massachusetts defines ‘federal gross income’ by reference to a fixed IRC conformity date that the legislature periodically updates (currently ‘the Internal Revenue Code…as amended on January 1, 2024’, per St. 2024, c. 140, §§ 251, 264). Because IRC §§ 71 and 215 (the pre-TCJA alimony inclusion/deduction provisions) were already repealed by the time of that January 1, 2024 reference date, the Code that Massachusetts imports for gross-income purposes no longer contains the pre-TCJA alimony rule, so for instruments executed after Dec. 31, 2018 Massachusetts follows the post-TCJA federal treatment (non-deductible to payer, non-taxable to recipient).
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return.
Source: M.G.L. c. 62, § 1(c) (definition of ‘Code’), as amended by St. 2024, c. 140, §§ 251, 264 · source
Conformity: static: January 1, 2024 (periodically updated by the Legislature; post-dates the TCJA’s repeal of IRC §§71/215, so alimony currently conforms to federal treatment)
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
Massachusetts 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 consider the length of the marriage…age, health, station, occupation, amount and sources of income, vocational skills, employability, estate, liabilities and needs of each of the parties
Source: M.G.L. c. 208, § 34
Alimony
Massachusetts calls it alimony. Using the state’s own word matters when you are searching for forms or reading a statute.
hybrid
the amount of alimony should generally not exceed the recipient’s need or 30 to 35 per cent of the difference between the parties’ gross incomes established at the time of the order
Source: M.G.L. c. 208, §§ 48-55 (Alimony Reform Act of 2011), particularly §§ 49 and 53
Who pays for the lawyers
the court may, in its discretion, award costs and expenses, or either, to either party, whether or not the marital relation has terminated
Source: M.G.L. c. 208, § 38
The court may require either party to pay into court for the use of the other party during the pendency of the action an amount to enable him to maintain or defend the action, and to pay to him alimony during the pendency of the action.
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 Massachusetts, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about Massachusetts
The Alimony Reform Act of 2011 (M.G.L. c. 208, §§ 48-55) ties the maximum duration of ‘general term alimony’ directly to marriage length: for marriages of 20 years or less, alimony is capped, absent written findings justifying deviation, at 50% of the marriage’s length in months for marriages of 5 years or less, 60% for marriages over 5 up to 10 years, 70% for marriages over 10 up to 15 years, and 80% for marriages over 15 up to 20 years; for marriages over 20 years, alimony may run indefinitely (§ 49(b)-(c)).
What we could not verify
For Massachusetts, we could not confirm the following from a primary source. We would rather print the gap than fill it:
- the child support model
If you practice in Massachusetts and can point us at the right provision, tell us. Corrections are published with the date, what changed, and how long the error was live.