Divorce money in Virginia: property, support, legal fees and whether the state taxes alimony
The money picture for a divorce in Virginia: how property gets divided, what Virginia 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 Virginia’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
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Every claim is traced to Virginia’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 Virginia 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.
Virginia uses static (fixed-date) IRC conformity under Va. Code § 58.1-301(B), with the legislature updating the date most years. The date is currently December 31, 2025 – well after the TCJA’s December 22, 2017 enactment – so Virginia’s individual income tax, which starts from federal adjusted gross income, already reflects the federal non-deductible/non-taxable treatment of alimony for instruments executed after December 31, 2018, with no separate state addition or subtraction for it.
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return.
Source: Va. Code § 58.1-301(B): ‘Any reference in this chapter to the laws of the United States relating to federal income taxes shall mean the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code… as they existed on December 31, 2025.’ · source
Conformity: static: 31 Dec 2025 (updated annually by the General Assembly)
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
Virginia 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.
based upon (i) the equities and the rights and interests of each party in the marital property, and (ii) the factors listed in subsection E, the court has the power to grant a monetary award… Such other factors as the court deems necessary or appropriate to consider in order to arrive at a fair and equitable monetary award.
Source: Va. Code § 20-107.3(D)-(E)
Spousal support and maintenance
Virginia calls it spousal support and maintenance. Using the state’s own word matters when you are searching for forms or reading a statute.
hybrid
the court may make such further decree as it shall deem expedient concerning the maintenance and support of the spouses… The court, in its discretion, may decree that maintenance and support of a spouse be made in periodic payments for a defined duration, or in periodic payments for an undefined duration, or in a lump sum award, or in any combination thereof.
Source: Va. Code § 20-107.1
Child support
Virginia 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: Va. Code § 20-108.2(B), (G) (basic child support obligation computed from a schedule based on combined monthly gross income of both parents, then divided between the parents in proportion to each parent’s share of that combined income)
How Virginia calculates child support, in detail
Who pays for the lawyers
Costs may be awarded to either party as equity and justice may require.
Source: Va. Code § 20-99(6)
the court having jurisdiction of the matter may, at any time pending a suit pursuant to this chapter, in the discretion of such court, make any order that may be proper (i) to compel a spouse to pay any sums necessary for the maintenance and support of the petitioning spouse… (ii) to enable such spouse to carry on the suit
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 Virginia, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about Virginia
Virginia is unusual in having an actual statutory numeric guideline FORMULA for spousal support, but only at the pendente lite (temporary) stage: Va. Code § 20-103(G) creates a rebuttable presumption that pendente lite support equals 26% of the payor’s gross monthly income minus 58% of the payee’s (with minor children) or 27% minus 50% (without), capped to cases with combined monthly gross income of $10,000 or less – while the final award reverts to an open factors test under § 20-107.1.