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Alimony or spousal support is payment granted to one spouse following a divorce. It's not always granted, and trends show that there are less cases where alimony is granted than not. Alimony may be granted to a spouse where the couple have been married a long time and one makes significantly more money than the other. It may also be possible to be granted alimony if one spouse left his/her job to stay home and be the primary caregiver for the children or the home.
Since alimony is tax-deductible for the person who is going to pay it, it's important that one keeps some documents and records related to alimony payments. Disputes over alimony payments after the divorce proceedings are done are very common because people don't usually know what records to keep when dealing with alimony payments.
Here are a few things you should keep in mind when organizing records of alimony payments after divorce:
1. Keep a record of payments sent (if you are the alimony payer) and payments received (if you are the alimony recepient). Each payment should be itemized with the amount, check number, date, and the address where the payment was sent or received.
2. If a check was used for the payment, photocopy the original check. If you are the alimony payer, keep the original check in a safe place.
3. If you are paying in cash, it's important that you keep the receipts. You can always have a receipt made specifically for this purpose. Just make sure that the receipt is signed by the recipient.
At the very least, you should keep the records three years from the time you filed them for tax purposes, although many tax advisers will tell you that you should never throw these records away.
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