My back taxes and my wife's house

What is the name of your state? CA and TX

I owe taxes from prior years before the marriage while working in california. My mis-management of my stock options left me with almost 200K owed to the IRS and state of CA. We are working on an OIC but the process is long and painful.

Here is the situation: My wife recently sold her condominium in CA which she purchased before marriage and made all payments on her own from her own income and account during our marriage. It was easy to show this as seperate property becuase it was. BTW, we file married but separately. Now, we have relocated to TX and she would like to purchase property (in her name only which is challenging in a comm property state). The downpayment comes from proceeds from her own sepearte property (the condo) and the loan is in her name. She will pay for this from her own income from her own account.

What claim does the IRS (and CA) have to her property since this is a comm property state? Can they foreclose? Can it be construed as "mutated" property and offer some protection? This is her life savings in this property and would be horrible if she lost this.

What options do we have to protect her and her savings while I work out the OIC?

Should we be thinking of divorce or bankruptcy?

I've endured a miserable life because of my own actions in this matter but it's not fair for her to be tortured as well

Please help !!!

[abezon]

Community property laws vary from state to state. I suggest you talk to a lawyer in TX. You might also talk to a BK lawyer about filing chapter 13 (restructuring). In a chapter 13 BK, the trustee decides how much the gov't gets and often won't let the gov't collect any penalties or interest.