The rest of what we have written about Vermont. Every figure is quoted from Vermont’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Dividing property and money in a Vermont divorce
The money picture for a divorce in Vermont: how property gets divided, what Vermont 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 Vermont’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
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Every claim is traced to Vermont’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 Vermont 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 — Vermont is an equitable distribution state.
- Maintenance — Vermont calls it maintenance.
- Child support — Vermont 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 Vermont
In this subject 8
Does Vermont follow the federal alimony rule?
The short version6 points · tap one to jump to it
- Does Vermont 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 — Vermont is an equitable distribution state.
- Maintenance — Vermont calls it maintenance.
- Child support — Vermont 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 Vermont
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.
Vermont uses static (fixed-date) IRC conformity under 32 V.S.A. § 5824, but the legislature updates that date virtually every year, functioning as rolling conformity in practice. Act 164 of 2026 most recently moved Vermont’s conformity date to the Internal Revenue Code as in effect December 31, 2025, for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025 – well after the TCJA’s December 22, 2017 enactment – so Vermont’s tax base already reflects the federal non-deductible/non-taxable alimony treatment for post-2018 instruments.
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return.
Source: Vermont Department of Taxes, 2025 Vermont Income Tax Form Instructions Federal Conformity Supplement: ‘Section 60 of Act 164 updated Vermont’s date of static conformity to the federal tax law by amending 32 V.S.A. § 5824. Vermont now generally conforms to the laws of the United States as in effect on December 31, 2025.’ · source
Conformity: static: 31 Dec 2025 (updated annually by the legislature, e.g. Act 164 of 2026 amending 32 V.S.A. § 5824)
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
Vermont 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 settle the rights of the parties to their property by including in its judgment provisions which equitably divide and assign the property. All property owned by either or both of the parties, however and whenever acquired, shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the court.
Source: 15 V.S.A. § 751(a)
Maintenance
Vermont calls it maintenance. 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 may order either spouse to make maintenance payments, either rehabilitative or long term in nature, to the other spouse… The maintenance order shall be in such amounts and for such periods of time as the court deems just, after considering all relevant factors
Source: 15 V.S.A. § 752
Child support
Vermont 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: 15 V.S.A. § 654 (Support guideline reflects the percent of combined available income that parents living in the same household in Vermont ordinarily spend on their children)
Who pays for the lawyers
When a judgment or order for the payment of either temporary or permanent maintenance, child support, or suit money has been made by the Family Division of the Superior Court… the party entitled by the terms of the judgment or order to payment thereunder… may file a motion… asking for a determination of the amount due.
Source: 15 V.S.A. § 606
Either party or both parties to a civil marriage may apply for temporary relief at any time following the separation of the parties… The court… may make such orders pending final hearing and further order of the court as the court would be authorized to make upon final hearing.
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 Vermont, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about Vermont
Vermont’s spousal-support statute expressly authorizes two named categories of maintenance – ‘rehabilitative’ and ‘long term’ – directly in the text of 15 V.S.A. § 752(a), rather than leaving the type of award to unwritten case law as many equitable-distribution states do.