Divorce Questions

I am located in Arizona.
I am having trouble getting my ex to follow the stipulations of our divorce decree. He terminated my spousal support early and threatened me when I asked for the money that was due to me. He is required to sell his truck and motorcycle and give me 50% of the proceeds, but he is refusing to do so. We had also agreed to file a joint tax return for 07 (our divorce was final 12/10/07)and split any porceeds or liability 50/50. He has since found out that this was not allowed, so he filed our taxes (including mine) separately, without my prior consent. According to him, he owes the IRS $2800 and I am due a $2500 refund. He is now claiming that I need to pay 50% of his liability, and therefore will not pay for a surgery for me that he is required to pay for per the divorce decree. Can he do this? Is the provision in the divorce decree now void because a joint return cannot be filed? What recourse do I have for him filing my taxes electronically without my prior consent? I desperately need help with this one. My ex is a very nasty, agressive person with a drinking problem that tends to get violent with me whenever I question things. I need to know what my legal rights are before I go after him. HELP!!!!!!

Half of his IRS debt is yours. Half of the refund is yours. He has half the IRS debt. He is entitled to half the refund. Lot of money. The family court cannot order you to file in violation of federal law -- well they can but it is NOT enforceable. You should have checked that out. As for filing without your permission. No he cant' do that. So you can refile yourself as single. Or head of household and then you still split the refund and STILL owe half the debt.

Ohiogal said:

Half of his IRS debt is yours. Half of the refund is yours. He has half the IRS debt. He is entitled to half the refund. Lot of money. The family court cannot order you to file in violation of federal law -- well they can but it is NOT enforceable. You should have checked that out. As for filing without your permission. No he cant' do that. So you can refile yourself as single. Or head of household and then you still split the refund and STILL owe half the debt.

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I am going to somewhat disagree with that.

Its absolutely correct that they could not file jointly. Its absolutely correct that he committed tax fraud by filing her return electronically, without her permission. (although it may have been an accurate return depending on how accurately he followed the REST of the rules)

However, I don't think that its a slam dunk that they each have to equalize the tax provisions of the order, since it was basically an illegal order/agreement to start with. They were not entitled to file jointly, therefore the tax liability or tax refund is arguably NOT a marital asset or debt.

He is in contempt for stopping spousal support prematurely, and is in contempt for not selling the assets he was ordered to sell and to give her half of the proceeds, and is in contempt for not paying for the surgery for her that he was ordered to pay. I suspect that those items add up to considerably more than half of his tax liability.

The whole thing needs to go back to court. I am disappointed that she was informed that she had to make good on the tax issue (which is arguable) and all the rest was ignored.

Sorry but the court is going to hold them in contempt for not splitting the refunds/liability. Because that was the court order. It is NOT illegal to order them to split the liability/refunds. And that part can be upheld and most likely will be.