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Release Notes for Version 7.07, released 7/1/2005
This release adds two new Alimony calculators and makes a number of other minor enhancements.
1. Alimony Calculator. In some cases, you may wish to set Alimony at a level which gives the recipient spouse a specified share of the parties' combined "cash available for living expenses."
We defined the cash available for living expenses as total gross income after certain mandatory expenses.
Those mandatory expenses are: federal, state, and local taxes, and mandatory retirement contributions, union dues, and other mandatory expenses that you specify.
Gross income after these mandatory expenses is called "cash available for living expenses.
Cash and available for living expenses is cash that is available to pay mortgage or rent, pay debts, buy clothing, food, and transportation, pay for education, etc.
For example, you may specify that you want the recipient spouse to have 45% of cash available for living expenses.
The software will then calculate the amount of alimony necessary to reach the target -- taking account of the tax impact of the alimony paid and alimony received.
Alternatively, you may believe that all of the recipient's expenses, including mortgage or rent, clothing, transportation, debt payments, and so on are reasonable. You may then wish to direct the software to calculate the amount of alimony necessary to reach a breakeven point after considering all expenses.
The software can do that as well.
So, for example, you may specify that you wish the software to calculate the amount of alimony necessary for the recipient to just break even after all expenses. The software will do that.
For all of these calculations, the software uses the current year only and ignores down payments, refinancings, and the income from the sale of a home. These are all one-time expenses, and including them in this calculation would distort the result.
As a result, the numbers shown here may not exactly match the numbers shown in the main part of the program.
You may also specify that the alimony is to be "unallocated." This means that child support and alimony are combined and treated for tax purposes as alimony.
You may create up to three alternative scenarios at one time and print them all on a single page.
2. Alimony What -If. Sometimes, you may have a situation where the other party proposes a set amount of alimony. You then want to see the impact on each party's after-tax cash of that alimony amount. The new "Alimony What-If " calculator allows you to do just that.
The calculator will show the impact of the proposed alimony for the full term of years you are considering, not just the first year.
You may specify that alimony will decline over time, and you will see the effect of that decline on after-tax income. You may do the same for child support.
For all of these calculations, the software ignores down payments, refinancings, and the income from the sale of a home. These are all one-time expenses, and including them in this calculation would distort the result.
As a result, the numbers shown here may not exactly match the numbers shown in the main part of the program.
3. Offset field. We added a field for "offsets" against investments, personal items, and insurance. These offsets are treated as debts against the items. The offsets do not amortize over time, so it is most useful to enter offsets where you need them for the state financial affidavit or where you are focusing primarily on the current year or the near term. To enter debts that you amortize over time, you should continue to use the "Debts" screen.
4. Minor fixes. We made it some minor fixes to the software, including the following.
- We clarified the divorced spouse benefit explanation in the Social Security screen.
- In some cases, the generic financial affidavit was not displaying. Now it will display.
- If the pension was to begin paying as if the employee worked until Regular Retirement or Early Retirement, and the radio button under the option "Cut-off date" was set to "Earliest Retirement date," the pension projection for years after the current year was wrong until retirement. That has been fixed.
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