The rest of what we have written about Nebraska. Every figure is quoted from Nebraska’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Dividing property and money in a Nebraska divorce
The money picture for a divorce in Nebraska: how property gets divided, what Nebraska 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 Nebraska’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
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Every claim is traced to Nebraska’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 Nebraska 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.
Nebraska’s income tax statute incorporates federal law with a genuinely ROLLING conformity clause: references to the Internal Revenue Code mean its provisions ‘as the same may be or become effective, at any time or from time to time, for the taxable year’ (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-2714), and Nebraska taxable income starts from federal adjusted gross income (§ 77-2714.01). Because conformity is automatic and current, Nebraska follows the post-TCJA federal alimony treatment (non-deductible to payer, non-taxable to recipient) without any separate state legislative action.
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return.
Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-2714; § 77-2714.01(1) · source
Conformity: rolling
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
Nebraska 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 may order payment of such alimony by one party to the other and division of property as may be reasonable, having regard for the circumstances of the parties, duration of the marriage, a history of the contributions to the marriage by each party
Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 42-365
Alimony
Nebraska 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.
The purpose of alimony is to provide for the continued maintenance or support of one party by the other when the relative economic circumstances and the other criteria enumerated in this section make it appropriate.
Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 42-365
Who pays for the lawyers
the court may decree costs against either party and award execution for the same, or it may direct such costs to be paid out of any property sequestered, or in the power of the court, or in the hands of a receiver
Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 42-367
In every action for dissolution of marriage or legal separation, the court may require the husband to pay any sum necessary to enable the wife to maintain the action during its pendency.
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 Nebraska, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about Nebraska
Nebraska’s core alimony/property statute (§ 42-365) is unusual in expressly telling courts that alimony and property division, though governed by overlapping criteria, ‘serve different purposes and are to be considered separately’ — property division is to ‘distribute the marital assets equitably,’ while alimony exists ‘to provide for the continued maintenance or support of one party by the other,’ a statutory instruction against using alimony to simply equalize post-divorce incomes.
What we could not verify
For Nebraska, 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 Nebraska 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.