Alimony Questions

I don’t quite understand how alimony works. Once the judge awards alimony to a spouse - is that garnished out of my wages and sent to my former spouse? Regardless of garnishment, is it taken out before or after taxes?

Alimony is only garnished if a court order prescribes that it be garnished from your wages. Otherwise you just need to provide payment as the order requires. You can’t take pretax deductions from income for alimony payments; this comes out of your net pay.