What Are the Significant Changes to Illinois Spousal Maintenance Law 2020?

What Are the Significant Changes to Illinois Spousal Maintenance Law 2020?

There aren’t any changes to Illinois spousal maintenance law that will take effect on January 1st, 2020.  The federal tax reform in 2019 introduced many changes, which pushed back some of the Illinois government’s agenda for 2020.  We may see alterations later in the year, but for now, it is best to have a clear understanding of changes that were made in 2019 and how they will impact spousal maintenance law in 2020.  Highlights of these amendments are as follows:

• Spousal maintenance is no longer tax deductible for the payor, and no longer counts as taxable income for the recipient;
• The threshold for judges having discretion to deviate from statutory guidelines for calculating the amount of maintenance has been raised from $250,000.00 to $500,000.00 combined income;
• If maintenance is deemed inappropriate by the court, both parties will be barred from requesting maintenance again for the same case;
• Any existing maintenance orders entered on or before 12/31/18 shall follow the laws in effect at the time the order was submitted.  If an existing order needs to be modified, old laws will still apply unless both parties agree to observe the new laws upon modification of the order