Divorce Question from Yesterday Saga Con't today..New One: Taxes

Hi there. Regarding the taxes you mentioned you do not have a W-2 for last year well unfortuately you cant file income tax. You must have taxable income in order to file or get earned income or the tax child credit. I tried that one year when I was in college and when I called the IRS they told me I had to have some taxable income even then there is an amount you have to had made in order to receive the earned income credit. I would say as everyone else has go file for a divorce, if you cant afford one at least file for child support at the attorney generals office because you can do that first then proceed with the divorce. I am a paralegal in El Paso and have worked with family law for many years. If you need any more information please email me and I will try and help you the best I can.

Good luck to you and just take one day at a time. I have been through the whole divorce issue as well.
C.

OK, after yesterday and today I say GET A LAWYER. He is manipulating you. Don't waste another day. Schedule an appt today.

Call your lawyer, girlfriend. This is not the kind of thing you need to be fighting about. The laws are complex, both for divorce and taxes. I'd recommend that you ask around and find a good CPA to help with your taxes since you're not yet divorced and your almost-ex is disputing things. Last thing you need is for him to tip off the IRS and for you to get audited (whether or not it's deserved, it's such a drag to be audited).

So, bottom line: get a lawyer (a good one, and if you can't afford one, your ex will have to help you pay - yes, it's true! Good incentive for him to cooperate, huh?). Then, get a CPA (a good one). When your ex calls to try and bully you, refer him to your lawyer. End of story!

Good luck!!

No way, girl! This is just my opinion but I'm going to give you my opinion like you were my BFF. He is totally manipulating you. He is a selfish jerk and for your own sanity, you need to let a lawyer deal with all of this junk. Why are you still sharing a bank account with this man? You need to get your own bank account NOW. Do NOT wait! All of this is not good for you or your son. An attorney will take care of ALL of this for you. Some of the other posters are right, too. A good CPA would be helpful as well. Get yourself a good attorney and quit letting him drag you down. You don't owe him anything. When he calls and tries to suck you in to his web of selfishness, refer him to your attorney.

Good luck!!

I'm so sorry that you going through this. I was there about a year ago. According to my not so great lawyer, the person whom the child lives with is supposed to be the one to claim the children for tax purposes. I asked my lawyer to put this in our decree but he wouldn't saying this was understood by all. The tax preparer said that whoever files first can claim the kids. I would contact a good lawyer who is working for you and your child. It is my understanding that you guys can agree to certain things but unless it is spelled out in a legal document, your agreement doesn't hold in the courts. It is unfortunate that he doesn't see that it is his child and that he should go above and beyond to provide for him. Hang in there! Stay focused on what is important which is your child! God bless.

Get an attorney. You cannot afford to do otherwise. If he was dishonest with taxes and such, they can make him reimburse you later. Also, if he is not providing any kind of child support, they will order "back child support" to be paid later too. If you cannot afford an attorney but you have got "snap" or someone to help you that has "snap", then file for it yourself. You can find pretty much all the forms you need at www.texaslawhelp.org. There are a few things to remember when you divorce...these are things that many people think will be "ok" to not address, but trust me - they need to be addressed! DO NOT allow your ex-spouse to retain possession of anything that includes debt that can (and likely will) affect your credit. That means if the car has your name on it then have him get it out of your name. If the credit cards have your name on it and he is order to pay them, then you better stay on top of it and demand that the accounts be closed so that no additional debt can be accrued. Trust me..... 2 yrs and 8 mos after my current husband's divorce was final, his ex had ran up $22K worth of debt on credit cards that only had $1500 worth of debt on them when they divorced. Then, she entered some kind of debt consolidation program where all her debts were defaulted on.....My husbands credit score went from 814 to 644 and all of his creditors hiked his interest rates. So, not only can he not get any new credit, the existing debt he has he is now paying astronomical interest on. And, over the course of the following 2+ years, she was habitually late on her car note. The last car note she paid was 29 days late. Our entire marriage has been plagued with this drama because it all started 2 weeks before we married. Look out for yourself in every way possible! Don't leave anything to chance! HE is not your problem any longer.....your son is.

Oh - and I believe the child credit is $1000!!!!!!

Ok, I have not read your post from yesterday. I will put my two cents in the pot. I am divorced and have been for over two years. We were separated for 9 months while getting divorced. You are giving you ex too much power. If he is saying you "stole" money, then get out the statements and prove to him you did not. As far as, the tax claim. If you will be the custodial parent with majority decision making, you should always claim your child on your tax return. This is not a you did it last year, I'll do it this year issue. Also, you should have separate bank accounts at this point. I understand your income may be less, but he should not have access to your account activity. I am not trying to fuss at you in any way. Divorce is a very stressful time. Please understand, you are making decisions now that will effect you and your child for many, many, many years. You must be aware of what is being done, said/told, and acted upon. You state that you just can't believe him. Well, I assure you this will not be the only time you will be thinking those words. I encourage you to only communicate with him through e-mail or text. If you communicate through phone, record it. I say this because often a phone conversation will get into topics that need to be documented, IF you are to go to court. If you get your ex accustomed to communicating with you in written forms, it will be easier to communicate without argument. I will send you my seminar series called Organized Divorce. Please send me an e-mail address. My seminar gives guidelines of how to save time, money and heartache through the divorce process. I wish you the best in your divorce process.

You really need to see an attorney ASAP. Sounds like he is used to getting what he wants. Time to tell him a word that he needs to get used to and that word is NO! You need to play hard ball with him. That might get uncomfortable but you need to. If you don't then you should get a separate bank account. Please know that we are here for you!

1. Get a lawyer ASAP. Don't split any money without your attorney directing you to. If you give your ex any money, and there is a mistake, the odds of getting it back is very low, especially if you don't have good documentation.

2. After your get counsel from your attorney, hire a CPA to file your taxes for 2010 and refile for 2009. Your taxes for 2009 can amended and refiled. What your ex did is NOT permanent and can be changed. Refiling your taxes for 2009 will require the expertise of a CPA, but will be worth it.

3. Remember the saying, "If you don't get it in writing, it never happened." Don't do anything verbally. STOP--Don't give your ex anymore statements or financial information without the permission of your attorney. All you are doing is giving your ex ammunition to use against you.

4. You are not "just venting". You are protecting yourself and your son--what a great mama is suppose to do! You will get through this, but do not try to do this alone.

Your soon to be ex is a real piece of work. You have figured that out by now. You need professional assistance---yes, with the divorce, as many have mentioned, AND help with the taxes! You do not want to do anything that gets you in trouble with the IRS.
If you follow the advice of the boy's father and do something wrong, you don't get a "pass" becuase you go bad advice from a soon-to-be-ex.
Something nasty happened with my sister, her ex and child support about 8 years ago---don't go there.

Best of luck.

Legally whoever the child lives with more than 50% of the time is the one to claim them and if he's not giving you child support I ouldn't split it. If fact i have a friend who's husband didn't pay any child support while they were seperated and the judge told him he had to pay her all the back support from the day they started living apart. Since that was a lot the judge ordered that the husbands entire tax return went to mom to make up for the missing child support

You have to find a lawyer! The ex is stealing from you with this tax thing, too, because you need something in writing about who claims the kid. I think you can amend last year if you get a lawyer/CPA. Try calling UH or South Texas College of Law if you are in Houston and ask them how you can find a lawyer, because both of you are unemployed, and he is trying to manipulate you. I was lucky to have a teaching job, so I could afford a lawyer when my ex tried to pull stuff on me!

GET a lawyer! He held out on you. He was selfish & greedy to file taxes w/o consulting you, especially claiming the child on his taxes only & now he wants your money too?? That's just simple greed & selfishness. I would politely bring up the last year's taxes & state that he can claim what he thinks you owe him under your share of the taxes he kept from you & if he argues about it, take him to court. He has NO right to do that to you. You should've disputed it last year but c'est la vie, it's done. You may can do something about that still so I'd definitly ck into it w/a lawyer. I realize you may have strapped finances but an atty will help you gather necessary information & you can even find legal assistance on a budget, just shop around & ask for advice on a good but reasonably priced atty. But I'd strongly advise against doing anything further w/o an atty if your soon to be ex keeps harrassing you even after reminding him he kept all of the tax money from last yr & to accept that as the amt he thinks he owes you otherwise, threaten him w/taking him to court. Remember, I've never known any attorneys that wouldn't allow you to pay out your fees so just keep that in mind too; I'm sure there are some that expect total amt up front but the one's I've ever been in contact with always allowed payments. Good luck!!!

You really, really need to consult with an attorney. I know you're really worried about finances, but b/c you have a child together, it's really important you do what's best for your family. Here's a link to find free legal aid....http://www.trla.org/index.php. It's important to have a lawyer to make sure court procedures are followed. Also it's important that you document everything: receipts, date/time of events/phone calls along with a brief scenario of each. Be sure to file with the Texas State Attorney General for child support--whether he has a job or not. The AG will garnish wages, take any income tax, etc to make sure you get the child support. I know you want this to be over soon, but just take a deep breath, keep your composure and remain aloof in speaking with your stbx. The only things to discuss with him is your son. If the stbx pressures you, just communicate in a business manner and say that your attorney will can him. I'm sorry you and your son have to go thru this. I had to go thru the same, but by the grace of God and support from friends and family, this too shall pass. Blessings to you and your son!

Unfortunately, I can. My sister is going through something very similar and we are just flabbergasted at her soon-to-be-ex's deep down stupidity and selfishness. I'm glad you are going to get a lawyer. I also echo another poster's advice - don't negotiate with him; refer him to the lawyer. Hang in there. You can do this.

As you know by now, divorce is very very complicated, and can be very expensive too. What I suggest is to stop any talking with your ex about taxes, or anything related to the divorce until you get legal advice.I guess he can't file taxes on your behalf since you have to sign the papers too.Don't give him any papers....just put everything on hold until you get some advice, and your advice should come from a legal source!
From a personal experience I know divorce can cost a lot of money, but you can't just do whatever your ex wants, you have to protect your rights and your son's right's. There are few places in Austin where you can get free legal help or at a reduced rate depending on your income, here is a link showing some of them: http://www.texaslawhelp.org/TX/StateChannelResults.cfm/co...

Please contact them, I'm sure you'll get help since you don't have any income and the ex is not paying child support!

Hope this will help.

I don't know all of the ins and outs of separation and divorce situations, but I do know this. Whoever has custody of the child 51% or more of the time is the one who gets to claim the child on their taxes. Just because your "husband" did first, does not mean he gets to. You should file an amendment claiming him. Then when the IRS kicks it back because the SS number has already been claimed, you will have to show proof that you had the child the majority of the time and provided the majority of his care. They will then back charge him for claiming the child, and you will get the credit for it.

Same holds true for this year if he tries to claim him before you get the chance.

I say get a lawyer now and fast. Don't give him anymore paperwork. You don't HAVE to share any money with him that you receive. Splitting halves is only when the divorce is finalized. Besides, if I remember correctly, you said he has provided very little for your child. Save receipts every time you buy your child clothes, medical care, school items, etc. Then copy checks he gives you, or write down explicitly what he has bought/provided for the child. Write down explicitly what he has said he would give you when "his ship comes in". I would try to get him to sign it, but if he won't it doesn't matter. A verbal agreement is still binding. Basically, I'm saying dot all your i's and cross your t's.

Ohhh Gina, First let me say I'm so sorry your in this situation, however it is what it is. You need to get an attorney asap. Your stbx knows all of your buttons & he is going to push them to the limit. I would not split that money with him at all. Start calling attorney's today. Most of them will give you a free consultation on your first visit & you can get alot of your questions answered. Write out all of your questions. Be prepared & take somebody with you. The other person may hear things you don't because this is an emotional time for you. Do not file taxes with him anymore. File seperately. Stop letting your stbx manipulate you. Mine did the same thing & I kept listening to his garbage & felt sorry for him. Don't do what I did. You have a child to think of & protect not to mention your own sanity. I read your post yesterday & you got so many great responses. Listen to all of this & put it into action. You will survive this & come out on the better side. Best wishes to you & stay strong.