The rest of what we have written about Pennsylvania. Every figure is quoted from Pennsylvania’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Dividing property and money in a Pennsylvania divorce
The money picture for a divorce in Pennsylvania: how property gets divided, what Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
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Every claim is traced to Pennsylvania’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 Pennsylvania 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 — Pennsylvania is an equitable distribution state.
- Alimony — Pennsylvania calls it alimony.
- Child support — Pennsylvania uses the income shares model — both parents’ incomes go into the calculation, and the result is apportioned between you.
- 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 Pennsylvania
In this subject 8
Does Pennsylvania follow the federal alimony rule?
The short version6 points · tap one to jump to it
- Does Pennsylvania 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 — Pennsylvania is an equitable distribution state.
- Alimony — Pennsylvania calls it alimony.
- Child support — Pennsylvania uses the income shares model — both parents’ incomes go into the calculation, and the result is apportioned between you.
- 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 Pennsylvania
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.
Pennsylvania personal income tax is not built on federal adjusted gross income or general IRC conformity at all — it taxes only eight specifically enumerated classes of income (compensation; net profits; net gains from disposition of property; rents, royalties, patents and copyrights; dividends; interest; gambling and lottery winnings; and net gains through estates or trusts) under 72 P.S. § 7303 and 61 Pa. Code Chapter 103, Subchapter B. Alimony has never been one of these enumerated classes, so it has never been taxable to the recipient and a payer has never been able to deduct it for Pennsylvania purposes — pre- or post-TCJA.
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return.
Source: 61 Pa. Code Chapter 103, Subchapter B (§§ 103.11-103.19, enumerating the eight taxable classes of Pennsylvania personal income); 72 P.S. § 7303 (imposition of the Pennsylvania personal income tax on those enumerated classes) · source
Conformity: n/a — Pennsylvania’s personal income tax is not computed from federal adjusted gross income or general IRC conformity; it taxes eight enumerated classes of income, and alimony is not, and never has been, one of them.
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
Pennsylvania 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.
Upon the request of either party in an action for divorce or annulment, the court shall equitably divide, distribute or assign, in kind or otherwise, the marital property between the parties without regard to marital misconduct in such percentages and in such manner as the court deems just after considering all relevant factors.
Source: 23 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3502(a)
Alimony
Pennsylvania 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.
Where a divorce decree has been entered, the court may allow alimony, as it deems reasonable, to either party only if it finds that alimony is necessary.
Source: 23 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3701
Child support
Pennsylvania 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: Pa. R. Civ. P. 1910.16-1 et seq. (Pennsylvania child support guidelines, based on combined net income of both parents)
Who pays for the lawyers
In proper cases, upon petition, the court may allow a spouse reasonable alimony pendente lite, spousal support and reasonable counsel fees and expenses. Reasonable counsel fees and expenses may be allowed pendente lite.
Source: 23 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3702(a)
In proper cases, upon petition, the court may allow a spouse reasonable alimony pendente lite, spousal support and reasonable counsel fees and expenses. Reasonable counsel fees and expenses may be allowed pendente lite.
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 Pennsylvania, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is a genuine third pattern beyond the two the brief anticipates: rather than decoupling from the TCJA (New York) or freezing an IRC conformity date before it (California), Pennsylvania’s income tax was never tied to federal adjusted gross income to begin with — it taxes eight specifically enumerated income classes under 72 P.S. § 7303, and alimony has never appeared on that list, so Pennsylvania’s non-taxation of alimony predates and is unaffected by the TCJA entirely.