No, in this case, you can't deduct attorney's fees. The legal fees you paid for a divorce are considered personal expenses. You can only deduct legal fees related to doing or keeping your job. However, you may be eligible to deduct attorney's fees associated with receiving alimony or receiving property.
Unfortunately, the IRS prohibits any deduction for the cost of personal legal advice, counseling, and legal action in a divorce. If your spouse deliberately increases your divorce costs, your lawyer may ask the judge to order your spouse to pay their legal fees. So, can you deduct the divorce attorney's fees? No, unfortunately. It is unlikely that you will be able to deduct your divorce attorney's fees.
However, some of the costs you incur as a result of your divorce may be deductible. Naturally, there are divorce lawyers who serve in the niche market of high-net-worth individuals, but even those clients are interested in finding ways to reduce the overall cost of their divorce. We have been keeping up with developments on social media over the past decade and can advise you on how information on these sites could affect your divorce or family law matter. So it should come as no surprise that hidden assets are much more common during divorce than many people would like to admit.
If you are thinking about getting a divorce, consult with a lawyer to discuss the divorce and child custody process if it is often a good idea. Interviewing their best options before making a final decision can help people determine if their personalities fit and if the lawyer is someone they want to work with. While some divorces are civil and amicable, others are heated and can end in an emotional court battle. The Attorney General's Office reports that any money that comes from a federal or state source could also be subject to this process.
Here are some hypothetical situations where one might reasonably consider deducting attorneys' fees on their federal income tax return. This set of forms, called Divorce Set One, is designed for those who are going through uncontested divorces and have no assets to divide or children. It is increasingly common for lawyers to use information collected from Facebook, Twitter and text messages in dissolution proceedings. IRS regulations specifically prohibit expenses incurred for the purposes of counseling, personal counseling (whether provided by a lawyer, therapist, or other paid expert), and legal action in a case of marital dissolution, application for legal separation or modification of pre-existing divorce, separation, support, or order of division of property.
A frequently asked question of both divorce attorneys and accountants is whether divorce attorneys' fees are tax-deductible. One partner may deliberately try to increase the costs of the divorce process as a way to financially recover the other couple. Therefore, the money you spend on your lawyer to make sure you get the best price for your divorce, even though it is money well spent, is not tax deductible.
