The rest of what we have written about North Carolina. Every figure is quoted from North Carolina’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Dividing property and money in a North Carolina divorce
The money picture for a divorce in North Carolina: how property gets divided, what North Carolina 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 North Carolina’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
See a different stateNorth Carolina
Every claim is traced to North Carolina’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 North Carolina 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.
North Carolina’s income tax ‘Code’ definition is a static IRC-conformity date that the General Assembly updates annually (currently the IRC as enacted as of January 1, 2023) — well after the TCJA’s December 22, 2017 enactment — so North Carolina’s income tax base already reflects the federal alimony change. North Carolina also has no statutory addition or subtraction modification in its personal income tax code (G.S. 105-153.5/153.6) requiring alimony to be added back or deducted, confirming there is no state-level decoupling.
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return.
Source: N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-228.90(b)(7) (defining ‘Code’ as ‘the Internal Revenue Code as enacted as of January 1, 2023’); N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-153.5 (additions/deductions to federal AGI, no alimony provision) · source
Conformity: static: January 1, 2023 (updated annually by the General Assembly; well after the Dec. 22, 2017 TCJA enactment, so federal alimony treatment carries through)
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
North Carolina 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.
There shall be an equal division by using net value of marital property and net value of divisible property unless the court determines that an equal division is not equitable. If the court determines that an equal division is not equitable, the court shall divide the marital property and divisible property equitably.
Source: N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-20(c)
Alimony
North Carolina 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 court shall award alimony to the dependent spouse upon a finding that one spouse is a dependent spouse, that the other spouse is a supporting spouse, and that an award of alimony is equitable after considering all relevant factors.
Source: N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-16.3A
Child support
North Carolina 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: N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-13.4(c) (child support guidelines promulgated by the Conference of Chief District Judges)
How North Carolina calculates child support, in detail
Who pays for the lawyers
At any time that a dependent spouse would be entitled to alimony pursuant to G.S. 50-16.3A, or postseparation support pursuant to G.S. 50-16.2A, the court may, upon application of such spouse, enter an order for reasonable counsel fees, to be paid and secured by the supporting spouse in the same manner as alimony.
Source: N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-16.4
At any time that a dependent spouse would be entitled to alimony …, or postseparation support pursuant to G.S. 50-16.2A, the court may … enter an order for reasonable counsel fees.
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 North Carolina, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about North Carolina
North Carolina bars alimony entirely to a dependent spouse found to have engaged in illicit sexual behavior during the marriage and before separation, and conversely mandates an alimony award to the dependent spouse if the supporting spouse engaged in such conduct — one of the few remaining states where marital fault can categorically determine (not just influence) entitlement to alimony. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-16.3A(a).