The rest of what we have written about North Dakota. Every figure is quoted from North Dakota’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Dividing property and money in a North Dakota divorce
The money picture for a divorce in North Dakota: how property gets divided, what North Dakota 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 Dakota’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
See a different stateNorth Dakota
Every claim is traced to North Dakota’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 North Dakota 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 — North Dakota is an equitable distribution state.
- Spousal support — North Dakota calls it spousal support.
- Child support — North Dakota uses the percentage of obligor income model — the calculation looks principally at the paying parent’s income.
- 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 North Dakota
In this subject 8
Does North Dakota follow the federal alimony rule?
The short version6 points · tap one to jump to it
- Does North Dakota 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 — North Dakota is an equitable distribution state.
- Spousal support — North Dakota calls it spousal support.
- Child support — North Dakota uses the percentage of obligor income model — the calculation looks principally at the paying parent’s income.
- 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 North Dakota
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.
North Dakota’s individual income tax return starts from federal adjusted gross income — Form ND-1 line 1a is “federal adjusted gross income from Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 11”, with federal taxable income captured separately at line 1b — and the statute defines ‘Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended’ / ‘Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended’ with rolling reference to the current U.S. Internal Revenue Code (not a fixed pre-TCJA date). North Dakota’s taxable-income adjustment statutes contain no alimony-specific addition or subtraction, so the post-TCJA federal treatment (non-deductible/non-taxable for post-2018 instruments) flows through unchanged to the North Dakota return.
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return. The Office of State Tax Commissioner confirmed this directly, in correspondence on 14 September 2026: North Dakota follows the federal treatment of the taxability of alimony payments. We cite it as what it is — an answer in correspondence, not a published ruling — and we do not name the person who replied.
Source: N.D. Cent. Code § 57-38-01(5) (defining references to the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, as meaning ‘the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended’) and § 57-38-01(13) (taxable income computed under the Internal Revenue Code ‘plus or minus the adjustments as may be provided by this chapter’) · source
Conformity: rolling, and North Dakota builds it out of four provisions rather than one conformity-date clause. The Office of State Tax Commissioner set out the framework in correspondence on 30 September 2026; we then read every provision it named in Title 57, Chapter 38 on the Legislative Branch’s own site. Verbatim:
- § 57-38-01(5) — the references to the “Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended” “mean the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.” No vintage is fixed anywhere in it.
- § 57-38-01(13) — “taxable income” is the figure computed for federal income tax purposes under that Code, “plus or minus the adjustments as may be provided by this chapter or other provisions of law.”
- § 57-38-01(15) — any term about income, deductions or exemptions “has the same meaning as when used in a comparable context in the laws of the United States relating to federal income taxes, unless a different meaning is clearly required or contemplated.” This is the provision that makes conformity general rather than item-by-item.
- § 57-38-30.3(1) — the individual income tax section, which requires “a federal taxable income figure to be used as a starting point in computing state income tax under this section.”
And one the Department did not cite, which we found while checking the others: § 57-38-01.1, the legislative assembly’s own declaration of intent, “adopting the federal definition of taxable income as the starting point for the computation of state income tax by all taxpayers and providing the necessary adjustments thereto.” The conformity is not an accident of drafting; the legislature says in the statute that it is the design.
So a change to the federal Internal Revenue Code reaches North Dakota when it takes effect, without the Legislative Assembly acting — unless it amends these sections to decouple. Checked 30 Sep 2026 against the statute, not a summary of it.
One difference we are not smoothing over. The Department’s note describes § 57-38-30.3 as starting from federal adjusted gross income. The section’s own words say a “federal taxable income figure”. Those are different numbers, and Form ND-1 carries both — federal AGI on line 1a and federal taxable income on line 1b. We have published the statute’s wording and asked the Department about the difference rather than quietly correcting it or repeating a description the text does not carry. It does not change the answer on alimony either way.
What that correspondence is. An answer from the Office of State Tax Commissioner, Individual Income Tax and Pass-Through Entities, 30 September 2026 — correspondence, not a published ruling. We do not name the individual who replied.
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
North Dakota 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.
When a divorce is granted, the court shall make an equitable distribution of the property and debts of the parties.
Source: N.D. Cent. Code § 14-05-24(1)
Spousal support
North Dakota calls it spousal support. Using the state’s own word matters when you are searching for forms or reading a statute.
hybrid
The court may not award permanent spousal support. Upon consideration of the provisions of this section, the court may require one party to pay spousal support to the other party for a limited period of time upon expressly finding [need and ability to pay].
Source: N.D. Cent. Code § 14-05-24.1
Child support
North Dakota uses the percentage of obligor income model — the calculation looks principally at the paying parent’s income.
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.D. Admin. Code § 75-02-04.1-10 (child support schedule applied to obligor’s net monthly income and number of children); § 75-02-04.1-01
Who pays for the lawyers
During any time in which an action for separation or divorce is pending, the court, upon application of a party, may issue an order requiring a party to pay such support as may be necessary for the support of a party and minor children of the parties and for the payment of attorney’s fees.
Source: N.D. Cent. Code § 14-05-23
During any time in which an action for separation or divorce is pending, the court, upon application of a party, may issue an order requiring a party to pay … attorney’s 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 Dakota, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about North Dakota
North Dakota bars permanent spousal support outright (§14-05-24.1(2): ‘The court may not award permanent spousal support’) and instead imposes a statutory durational cap on any award tied to marriage length as a percentage of the number of months married — a genuine legislative guideline formula for duration that most equitable-distribution states do not have.