What are the differences between child support, maintenance, and unallocated support?
Child support is support for the child or children of the marriage. Maintenance (formerly “alimony”) is support for the spouse. Unallocated support is support for the children and the custodial parent lumped together in a single monthly payment. Child support is paid in after-tax dollars – that is, the payments are not a deductible expense of the payor and are not reported as income subject to income tax to the payee. Maintenance, by contrast, is typically paid in pre-tax dollars, although the parties are free to decide otherwise – that is, the payments are deducted from the income of the payor to arrive at the payor’s adjusted gross income upon which income taxes is calculated, and are added to the income of the payee to arrive at the payee’s adjusted gross income upon which income taxes are calculated. Unallocated support offers a mechanism by which child support can be paid along with maintenance in pre-tax dollars, assuming certain IRS rules are followed. Unallocated support is att
