Alimony - Ability to Pay? If you don't "need" it, you can't deduct it from your income

Griffin v. Griffin (Tenn. App. Ct. 2022)

Alimony and Reduction of Expenses for purposes of "ability to pay".

Discretionary expenses are by their very nature “unnecessary". The appellate court agreed with the trial court that the following expenses were “discretionary”, reducing the monthly amount of his expenses:

1) Gifts

2) Travel and vacation

3) Charitable donations

Further, the trial court found that the Husband was not a credible witness. He did not prepare his financial statement and had little independent of its contents and could not vouch for its accuracy. The court found some expenses exaggerated, unsupported or unreasonable. The Husband’s net monthly income after taxes and government withholding was $16,671. The court reduced the following payments: $564 for his adult son’s car related expenses, and another $3,844 in “other” and “discretionary expenses” and that $7,384 in housing expenses were excessive.

Moral of the Story: Divorce and Alimony is a lose-lose for both spouses.