How to Include Alimony in Emergency Fund?

[Banana41]

Hi all!  We have a strange emergency fund situation, and I'm trying to figure out how much cash to keep.  I would also gladly accept general suggestions (and am anticipating a few face punches, but hey - nobody's perfect).

Life Situation:
Married, 1 claimed dependent (soon to be 18),

Gross Salary/Wages:
74,000 me (after a recent mega-raise)
125,000 husband (married less than a year ago)

Pre-tax deductions:
My 401k - $18,000/yr
My 457 - $18,000/yr
HB 401k - $6250/yr (with additional 4% match)
Pension (mandatory) – 8% of my pay, or $5920/yr
HB alimony / child support – $4038/month, $43656/yr for 7 more years (will go down by $400/month after one year, but yeah… he didn’t use a lawyer and got screwed)
Bi-weekly take home after all deductions (all insurances, taxes – already as low as they can be with me being comfortable) - $905 me, $1754 HB

Taxes:
We’re in the 25% bracket.  Hoping to get in the 15% bracket for married filing jointly eventually, but we’ll see.  Taxes are already subtracted above.

Monthly Expenses:
Mortgage - $1150 ($950 mortgage, $70 PMI, $130 T&I), this is the same as we would pay renting a 2bdr apartment
Car Insurance - $100
Gas - $140 (we both carpool and normally come in under budget)
Internet - $41
Trash (and recycle) - $24
Utilities - $250 budgeted, summer months are ~130, it gets cold during winter
Entertainment - $40
Life Insurance - $160 ($40 is mandatory from HB’s old divorce)
Booze - $40
Groceries - $360 (2 working adults and 1 teenager)
Restaurants - $80
Home maintenance - $200
Medical - $60
Birthdays, misc. gifts - $30
Kid braces, misc. expenses - $170 (totally a losing battle to decrease)
Shopping - $60
Car loan - $250
Student loan 1 (kid that’s no longer claimed as dependent) - $117
Student loan 2 (currently deferred) - $150
(We are just finishing a (diy) kitchen remodel so might have residual expenses from that)

Assets:
My Pension (cash value) - $5100
My 401k - $41,760
My Roth IRA - $500 (quit funding this when I realized I should be doing traditional, but I'm waiting for it to be 5 years old so I can dump the joint emergency fund into it)
My 457 - $15,170
HB 401k - $25,360
House - Zillow says $267,000 but I use $220,000 in NW calculations
Car – 2014 CR-V (you can punch my face but I like it and fully intend to drive it to the ground), $16,000
Car – 2004 Mercury Sable, $2000
Joint emergency fund - $16,000 (6 months of expenses - I want to raise this to $18,000 soon. HB's job situation isn't very stable at the moment, my job is very stable)
HB emergency fund for alimony and child support - $13,000 (this is 6 months of alimony and child support minus the unemployment he would get if fired)
Checking (on a regular basis) - $1000-ish
We also have a fairly large amount (~$40,000 tax free) coming next year, when HB's share of his old house is finally freed up (kid will be in college).

Debts:
Mortgage – (4.25%, 28 yrs left) $167,700, still paying PMI until $156,000
Car – (2.99%, 5 yrs) $14,000
Student loan 1 – (5% but deductible, 8 yrs left) - $8152
Student loan 2 – (6.4% but deductible, 10 yrs left) - $10,119

[MDM]

...I'm trying to figure out how much cash to keep.  I would also gladly accept general suggestions....

Life Situation:
Bi-weekly take home after all deductions (all insurances, taxes – already as low as they can be with me being comfortable) - $905 me, $1754 HB

Taxes:
We’re in the 25% bracket.  Hoping to get in the 15% bracket for married filing jointly eventually, but we’ll see.  Taxes are already subtracted above.

Assets:
Joint emergency fund - $16,000 (6 months of expenses - I want to raise this to $18,000 soon. HB's job situation isn't very stable at the moment, my job is very stable)
HB emergency fund for alimony and child support - $13,000 (this is 6 months of alimony and child support minus the unemployment he would get if fired)
Checking (on a regular basis) - $1000-ish
We also have a fairly large amount (~$40,000 tax free) coming next year, when HB's share of his old house is finally freed up (kid will be in college).

Debts:
Mortgage – (4.25%, 28 yrs left) $167,700, still paying PMI until $156,000
Car – (2.99%, 5 yrs) $14,000
Student loan 1 – (5% but deductible, 8 yrs left) - $8152
Student loan 2 – (6.4% but deductible, 10 yrs left) - $10,119

Using the numbers above, it appears your take home pay after taxes, alimony, insurance, and current retirement fund contributions is ($905 + $1754) * 26 = $69,134.  That seems consistent with the "Income before other expenses" in the table below (no insurance included there).

Then subtracting other listed expenses leaves ~$29.3K/yr extra cash flow.  That could be used to
- increase the e-fund by the $2K you want, and
- increase 401k contributions, at least to the point of dropping into the 15% bracket (~$6600; saving ~$1900 tax), and
- Pay down the mortgage enough to get rid of PMI ($11,700; saving $840), and
- fully fund two Roth IRAs ($11K)

That would leave $29.3K - $2K - $6.6K + $1.9K - $11.7K +$0.8K - $11K = $700

You could blow the $700 on anything you wish. ;)

Of course, there may be mistakes in these calculations.  What do you think?

Category	Monthly	Comments	Annual
Salary/Wages for earner #1	$6,167		$74,000
Salary/Wages for earner #2	$10,417		$125,000
401(k) / 403(b) / TSP / etc.	$2,021	Room to increase?	$24,250
457 plans	$1,500	Room to increase?	$18,000
Subtotal 1	$13,063		$156,750
Pension contribution	$493		$5,920
Subtotal 2	$12,569		$150,830
Alimony	-$4,038		-$48,456
Federal Total Income (for IRS tax)	$9,025		$108,294
Federal tax	$1,001	2017 rates, MFJ, item. ded., 3 exempt.	$12,010
State/City tax	$396	Guess, using 5.00% * (AGI - Exempt'n)	$4,757
Soc. Sec. tax	$1,028	Assumes 2 earners paying	$12,338
Medicare tax	$240		$2,886
Total income taxes	$2,666		$31,990
Income before other expenses	$5,865		$70,384
Monthly Average Expenses:
Mortgage	$950	Input to Itemized Deductions	$11,400
Property Tax	$100	Input to Itemized Deductions	$1,200
Mortgage Insurance	$70		$840
Home/Rent Insurance	$30		$360
Car Insurance	$100		$1,200
Child activities	$170		$2,040
Dining (Lunch/Dinner/Etc.)	$80		$960
Gifts (not charitable contributions)	$30		$360
Electricity	$250		$3,000
Entertainment	$40		$480
Fuel/Public Transport	$140		$1,680
Groceries	$360		$4,320
Household; Maintenance	$200		$2,400
Internet	$41		$492
Life Insurance	$160		$1,920
Medical (Doctor, Hospital, etc.)	$60	Input to Itemized Deductions	$720
Miscellaneous	$60		$720
Recycling/Trash	$24		$288
Wine/Beer/Tobacco	$40		$480
Non-mortgage total	$1,955		$23,460
Loans:
Student Loan	$115		$1,383
Student Loan	$150		$1,797
Car	$251		$3,018
Total Expense	$3,421		$41,058
Total to invest	$2,444		$29,326
Summary:
"Gross" income	$12,545		$150,544
Income taxes	$2,666		$31,990
After-tax income	$9,879		$118,554
IRA+401k/403b/TSP/457	$3,521		$42,250
Living expenses	$3,398		$40,780
Non-mortgage loans	$516		$6,198
After-tax investable	$2,444		$29,326

Filing Status	2	1=S, 2=MFJ, 3=HOH
# Exemptions	3
# Children for EIC	1
	Adult #1	Adult #2
Age	28	27
# of earners	2
Total Income	$108,294
Std. Deduct.	$12,700
Act. Deduct.	$13,013
Exemption	$12,150
SL int. (approx.)	$1,002
AGI	$107,292
MAGI	$108,294
Taxable	$82,128
1040 Tax	$12,010
Tax after n-r credit	$12,010
Education Credit	$0
Net Tax	$12,010
Mtg. Int. (approx.)	$7,056
State tax	$4,757	5.00%
Prop tax	$1,200
Item. Deduct.	$13,013
Version	V9.02

Loans:	Orig. Prin.	Orig. Length	Curr. Prin.	Yrs left	Rate
Mortgage	$193,113	30	$167,700	23	4.250%
Student Loan	$8,152	7	$8,152	7	5.000%
Student Loan	$10,119	7	$10,119	7	6.400%
Car	$14,000	5	$14,000	5	2.990%

[Playing with Fire UK]

What would actually happen to the alimony payments if HB got fired? Is there any scope to decrease them or is it locked in?