Question regarding legal fees / protection of income / alimony proceedings.
My ex-spouse sued me for divorce in Kansas in March 2007. Part of the proceedings involved an ex parte order for spousal support, and when I refused to pay, an income withholding order.
In July 2007, I was successful in getting the spousal support order (and subsequent income withholding order) dismissed on the grounds that the state of Kansas lacked personal jurisdiction over me. (I did not meet the minimum contacts test for assertion of personal jurisdiction. As such, the orders were void on its face, but proceedings were necessary to make this determination.) Due to the timing of the income withholding order and the dismissal of same, no income was actually withheld. After dismissing the void orders, the Kansas courts had no further effect on divorce proceedings.
The courts in my home state (North Carolina) were the ones that eventually issued the divorce decree and governed all aspects of same, including the property settlement and my ex-spouse's waiver of alimony claims.
Are monies spent towards legal fees in defending/quashing the void orders deductible, as miscellaneous deductions for protection/collection of income, since quashing the orders was necessary to ensure that I was able to collect all taxable income that was due me from my employer?
The IRS publications (specifically Pub. 529) is not fully clear on the subject. I realize that if the spousal support proceedings in Kansas had been found valid, it would not be deductible, since the claim would be arising from a personal relationship. Likewise, the vast majority of my legal expenses in North Carolina would not be deductible.
But since the claim in Kansas was never legitimate at all (and ultimately had no legal effect), does it matter how the claim arose?