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Anyone going through divorce, should be very aware of the fact that maintenance (called alimony in some other states) is tax deductible by the payor (the person who pays it) and is taxed as income to the payee (the person who receives the maintenance). This tax impact can have an extremely important effect upon the overall cost of maintenance to the payor and the value of maintenance to the payee.
Obviously if you can take a deduction for the maintenance which are paying, this has the net effect of being less of a financial burden to you. The maintenance is simple less in terms of the dollar amount than you thought initially. The payee on the other hand, should keep in mind that he or she will be paying income taxes on the amount of maintenance making the net value of it less than one may initially think it is worth.
A payee should simply view maintenance in a similar way that one regards gross income before taxes are taken out and plan accordingly.