You may think of your alimony payments as “just money,” but there is far more to these critical payments than just numbers on a check. Alimony payments can be awarded in some divorce cases, and when they are, the former spouses involved have a responsibility to keep accurate and proper records regarding the payments they make or receive.

Consider this: what if your ex-wife or ex-husband doesn’t pay what she or he is obligated to pay you? Wouldn’t it be nice, in such a case, to have evidence documenting all of the previous times he or she has paid and being able to show how he or she didn’t pay this time? Furthermore, what if your former spouse tries to claim he or she didn’t receive a payment? Wouldn’t it be great to have the records to prove otherwise?

This is why meticulous record-keeping is a vital skill to have after a divorce where alimony is involved. Regardless of whether you are the paying or receiving spouse, you should have documents that details the date of a payment, how much the payment was for, what address it was sent to or delivered at, the check number, the bank utilized, and the account the check drew from.

With this information, you could support your claims in court whether they may be that your spouse didn’t pay you or he or she paid, but not enough. In addition, there are tax implications for your alimony (the payer can deduct it from their taxes, the receiver has to include it in their taxes) so having records to establish this is crucial.