A recent Tax Court decision was reported dealing with IRS Divorce Legal Fees. J. Frank Best, Tax Controversy CPA/U. S. Tax Court Litigator in Raleigh and Wilmington, NC & North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach, SC works to stay current on all IRS decisions concerning tax litigation to ensure we are fully informed and prepared for our clients.
Legal Fees Relating to Status of Investment Fund Distributions in Divorce Were Not Deductible Business Expenses
The Tax Court held legal fees that a taxpayer incurred in a divorce proceeding to defend his ownership of investment fund distributions, which he received after his former wife had filed for divorce but before the date the divorce was granted, were not deductible as expenses related to a business or income producing activity. The Tax Court applied the “origin of the claim” test under U.S. v. Gilmore, 372 U.S. 39 (1963) and found that the fees were personal and nondeductible because the former wife’s claim to the distributions originated entirely from the marriage. Lucas v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo. 2018-80.
Tax Court’s Decision
The Tax Court held that Mr. Lucas’s legal and professional fees were nondeductible personal expenses. The court reasoned that but for the marriage, Ms. Lucas would have had no claim to Mr. Lucas’s interest in Vicis. The court further found that Hahn did not apply because, while the fees in that case were business connected, Mr. Lucas’s legal fees had no connection to Vicis’s investment advisory business. Rather, they were incurred defending his ownership and distributions from equitable distribution in the divorce.
Mr. Lucas failed to demonstrate that the expenses were otherwise deductible, in the Tax Court’s view. The court concluded that Mr. Lucas was neither pursuing alimony nor resisting an attempt to interfere with his ongoing business activities as in Liberty Vending. The court found that Mr. Lucas engaged in little trade or business activity in 2010 or 2011, as Vicis began liquidating in 2009 and thereafter he engaged in no business activity other than a limited management role with Vicis. Mr. Lucas did not, in the view of the Tax Court, establish that Ms. Lucas’s claim related to the winding down of Vicis, or that the fees incurred to defeat her claim were ordinary and necessary to his trade or business.