Our first divorce settlement tip recommended that when calculating spousal support, you start with available cash, or disposable (after-tax) income.
Our second tip recommended working backward from need—and staying as close as possible to each party’s marital lifestyle.
Our third tip? Don’t evaluate a dollar value settlement on its face. Wait until after you perform the tax calculations. Or more correctly, wait until your technology does that job!
Alimony amounts are only important in context. The addition of $20,000 a year in alimony payments could actually put your client in a higher tax bracket—and counter intuitively worsen his or her situation. If your client’s the payor, a lower payment might actually impart stronger benefits on the payee—if it keeps such payee in a lower tax bracket.
Another way of looking at this tip is that bottom line matters more than top line. The top line (an absolute figure) means nothing…that is, not until you find out exactly how it impacts both parties.
Luckily, Easysoft Legal Software’s Divorce Financials software makes this easy. With our alimony comparison features, you can see readily—at a glance—how gradations in settlement amounts impact each party’s after-tax bottom line.
Our easy-to-use, well reviewed and popular family law software makes it easy for you to pick a win-win situation, or at least a situation in which your client comes out a winner. With that, Easysoft Legal Software makes it easy to keep your eye on your client’s bottom line.
To learn more about our divorce software for attorneys, call us at 800 905 7638.
