filing with the irs

What is the name of your state? california
the lady that files my taxes filed my return as a joint return.
although we were not married, we were living together for 8 years and had 2 children. he died last year, 2002, so she filed us a joint so that i could claim his taxes on the 2002 return. now there is a delay with the process of my return. was filing jointly not legal? is common law marriage recognized in california?

[abezon]

There is always a delay in processing a decedent's return. I don't know if CA has a common law marriage statute. If you were married under the common law of any state, you are married for federal tax purposes. If you never lived in a state that has common law marriage, you are not married & filing a joint return was improper/illegal. I tend to think CA does not have common law marriage, or it would never have had to invent the legal notion of palimony.

It's probably better not to have been married. The higher income parent files as head of household & claims the kids, while the lower income parent files as single & takes all the itemized deductions. For tax year 2002, the lower income parent may even qualify for the earned income credit. If you were not married, you need to amend your returns for 2000-2002, and the executor of his estate needs to amend his returns for 2000-2002.

For one, thank you very much for the info, no ones even come close to being able to try to answer my question. second, what do you mean by "amend" my return, and how do i go about doing that?

[abezon]

You amend a return by filing a new return with the correct information/filing status. You file Form 1040X. If you end up amending, expect one of you to owe money & the other to get money back.