Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

SPOUSAL SUPPORT

On January 1st, alimony will no longer be tax deductible for the paying spouse and the recipient spouse will no longer be taxed on it.

If you sign a separation or divorce agreement before December 31, 2018 and the spousal support order is modified in 2019 or later, the pre-2019 tax rules would still apply, unless the agreement used specific language stating otherwise.

CUSTODY OF PETS

California has now codified the concept of “Best Interest of the Pet” in Assembly Bill 2274, which goes into effect January 1, 2019.

This law allows courts to assign sole or joint ownership of a pet while considering the pet’s well-being.

MEDIATION

The new law requires attorneys representing clients in mediation to provide disclosures in writing about mediation confidentiality. The attorney must provide the disclosures to clients BEFORE the client agrees to participation in mediation, or AFTER if the client hires the attorney after agreeing to mediation. The law tells attorneys what this disclosure must say and how it must be formatted. The client must sign the disclosure form. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2019.