source:
  type: guide
  id: fnma-sel-b3-3.4-02
  authority: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.4-02 — Alimony, Child Support, Equalization
    Payments, or Separate Maintenance
  description: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.4-02 — Alimony, Child Support, Equalization
    Payments, or Separate Maintenance.
  coverage_tier: operative
obligations:
- id: fnma-sel-b3-3.4-02-full
  canonical_id: fnma-sel-b3-3.4-02-full
  section: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.4-02 — Alimony, Child Support, Equalization
    Payments, or Separate Maintenance
  type: do
  tags:
  - regulator-direct
  - fnma
  - selling-guide
  - corpus-expansion
  - tier-operative
  primary_source:
    tier: 1
    authority: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.4-02 — Alimony, Child Support, Equalization
      Payments, or Separate Maintenance
    source_class: fnma-guide
    source_url: https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/media/document/pdf/selling-guide
    snapshot_id: 5f7b8b79da595d76
    fetched_at: '2026-05-25T14:09:57Z'
    content_hash: sha256:98cf85a02861bbe84914a0e339b327c8fc131869a8a573882007bbeea60c5701
    paragraph_quote: 'B3-3.4-02, Alimony, Child Support, Equalization Payments, or
      Separate Maintenance (03/04/2026) The lender may include alimony, child support,
      equalization payments, or separate maintenance as income only if the borrower
      discloses it on the Uniform Residential Loan Application and requests that it
      be considered in qualifying for the loan. The following table provides requirements
      for alimony, child support, equalization payments, or separate maintenance.
      Criteria Requirements Documentation The lender must obtain evidence of the payment
      amount and terms using one of the following: • a copy of a divorce decree or
      separation agreement (if the divorce is not ﬁnal) Note: If a borrower who is
      separated does not have a separation agreement that speciﬁes alimony or child
      support payments, the lender should not consider any proposed or voluntary payments
      as income. • any other type of written legal agreement or court decree describing
      the payment terms, or • documentation that veriﬁes any applicable state law
      that mandates alimony, child support, equalization payments, or separate maintenance
      payments. Additionally, the lender must document receipt of income for the most
      recent six months using sources including, but not limited to: • bank statements,
      • cancelled checks, or • evidence of other electronic receipt of payments. Published
      May 6, 2026 335 Criteria Requirements Income History • A minimum six-month history
      is required. • The payment history must demonstrate the stability of the income,
      as reﬂected in the receipt of full, regular, and timely payments. Note: Lump
      sum equalization payments are not considered a steady source of income. Income
      Continuance The lender must document that the income is expected to continue
      for at least three years from the note date. Note: Check for limitations such
      as the age of the children for whom the support is being paid, or the duration
      over which alimony is required to be paid. Determination of Qualifying Income
      The monthly payment amount as documented above may be used as qualifying income.
      Note: The full amount of documented qualifying child support income is nontaxable
      and may be grossed up. See B3-3.1-01, General Income Information. DU Validation
      Service If a borrower''s alimony or child support income is validated by the
      DU validation service, DU will issue a message indicating the required documentation.
      This documentation may diﬀer from the requirements described above for the veriﬁcation
      of the borrower''s regular receipt of the full payment and its use as stable
      qualifying income. See B3-2-02, DU Validation Service Recent Related Announcements
      The table below provides references to recently issued Announcements related
      to this topic. Announcement Issue Date Announcement SEL-2026-02 March 04, 2026
      Published May 6, 2026 336'
  judgment: false
