Married 6 mths. Bought house 1-1/2 years ago (both names on mortgage and been paying interest only for first 2 yrs. so have no equity in it yet).

WW and I filed separately last year of course. WW had witholdings set so she got more back on her paychecks...thus only got about $100 return. I only claim myself so I got back about $15k (accountant played with some things to get the max. back for US combined that she could....so the difference may be skewed by that).

Anyway, we have this yrs. tax appt. next week. Married now, but wife wants to file for D in 2 months.

Should we file M/joint or M/separate ?? I've been told M/seperate hurts you but don't know.

Big question is this: If we do M/separate and I get a LOT more refund in my name than WW does (like last year).....and then we file for D....does that still become community property (CA is 50/50 state)??? We aren't legally separated but she moved out 7 wks. ago so I've read that any debt or income after informal separation is not counted as community.

Anyway, I just don't know HOW we should file. If I get a much bigger return than WW, should I keep it for ME in my own account? If we get D, will WW get 1/2 of it anyway?? (I can see the point that WE have been both living off her paychecks this year and that is money that she chose to receive in pay instead of tax return)

Anyone have any help or suggestions on this???
Thanks

ILA,

I am not a lawyer, accountant or tax advisor but since I have just gone through a similar situation here in CA, I will throw out some thoughts.( But I did sleep at Holiday Inn last year)

1. Once married all property(as well as tax credits and debits) and debt is split 50/50. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL regarding debt. Almost all of the popular literature will tell you that you are not responsible for your estranged partner's post separation acquired debt. THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT THE CASE IN CA.

2.It is almost always the case that you will save substantial money filing M jointly. You can keep it in any account just don't let a judge decide that you were trying to hide an asset.

3. Get the date of your WW's leaving down on paper.

Very funny <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />


Great insight. I HAD read that post-separation debt was individual...and WW and I discussed this the other day b/c she says she needs to buy a new car as her's is about dead...I told her "i wasn't going to get stuck paying for half of her car" and she said that after she moved out it would be her personal debt. Of course we can make that agreement on our own, but good to know it's not necessarily the law.

How about prior debt (student loans for ex.) that WE've been paying for her during our M....is stuff like that recoverable? Do I get stuck paying for her loans after we D? I've heard differing stories on this too.


Sounds to me like we need to file m/joint and I need to convince her to put the check into separate savings acct. so we can keep track of it. We have to pay house tax first part of April and some of return will have to go for that.


I've got my posts on here which I'm sure mention it and I've been meaning to go back and start logging some of the milestone dates that have happened. In your mind is that sufficient or should I get something documented by WW or family member, etc?

Thanks for the great tips

I'm in CA and my WW moved out in October, but it was completely informal and there is no LSA or anything. Any debt that I incur during our separation, WW will be 50 percent responsible for and vice versa, right? Similarly, any assets I gain will be 50 percent owned by WW and vice versa, right?

Also, thanks for the tax tips, that's something else I've been wondering about.

I'm not sure how it all works in CA and community property states so you are likely to get better answers with your own research and your own lawyer.

Filing jointly gets you a bigger refund so even if you had to split it, it might not be that bad. The only thing I suggest is make a deal with your wife and split the money over and above what you'd get individually.

Married separately = $5,000 refund
Joint filing = $13,000 refund

Thus...$8000 more dollars...she gets $4,000 and you get $9000.

Maybe you just agree to put the whole "extra" refund towards a marital debt (which is just like splitting it) and you get what you'd get if you filed separately. Get her to agree to that and FILE THE RETURN. When the check come be quick to follow up with her and get it done. No divorce has yet been filed so you are free to spend the money and do what you want with it in a NON asset accumulating manner.

Act non-chalant about it and seemingly fair. Maybe the law will screw you maybe not...but all's fair in love and war PRIOR TO HER FILING.

As far as documenting the above, even emails to her innocuously mentioning a move out date would be admissable to demonstrate such date. Just slip it in.

"You know honey, since you moved out on 12/7, we seem to be getting along so much better. Wouldn't giving reconciliation a chance be a good idea? At the very least, we can try to have some fun together as we end this relationship and move on (a shot at Plan A time)"


If she fails to dispute your date...it's nearly a fact and tough to dispute with all the other circumstantial evidence you'll likely be able to use to prove it's the truth. She won't contest such date unless you give her a really big window of opportunity in which to lie. Just close the window with some documentation.

Mr. Wondering

That's a great idea MW. I could probably get our accountant to figure our return both ways and then take what is ours individually and keep it, then take what's extra from filing joint and pay off shared debt / house taxes.

I think that's a great plan...I'll see if I might not want to play it that way.

thanks!