am I common law married?

[BL]

Do you go around town as if you are a couple ?

Do you represent yourselves as couple commonly ?

 

[11andy11]

Do you go around town as if you are a couple ?

Do you represent yourselves as couple commonly ?

no never have. She stopped wearing the engagement ring and as far as our family knows we are just that engaged. My problem is that she goes out till all hours of the night sometimes coming home the next day. I looked at her credit card reciepts and she is obviously a bar fly. She drops a hundred bucks at a clip at the sushi bar and I know thats not just her eating. Meanwhile I am at home raising our boy. She locked her phone and changed her email so I can't see who she is calling. I went through her phone record and she was calling this guy sometimes 15 times a day and I found out she was paying for his phone. I saw a text from him saying how much he missed her and it said kiss kiss. Some sugar daddy huh? I confronted her because I was pissed. I could have probably waited and gotten proof of infidelity. I love her to death but I can't take this anymore. I am afraid my only recourse is to end it as she won't stop doing what she is doing. At this point I would be willing to give her one of my business locations just to get her out of my life. If the court views the marriage as starting in 2009 (the first year we filed as married) then I guess I may not have to give her much. I will contact a local attorney this week and try and get an honest opinion of my situation so I can proceed. Half of me want to nail her ass to the wall, and the other half says no thats your sons mother try and make this work. Sucks really.

 

[LdiJ]

no never have. She stopped wearing the engagement ring and as far as our family knows we are just that engaged. My problem is that she goes out till all hours of the night sometimes coming home the next day. I looked at her credit card reciepts and she is obviously a bar fly. She drops a hundred bucks at a clip at the sushi bar and I know thats not just her eating. Meanwhile I am at home raising our boy. She locked her phone and changed her email so I can't see who she is calling. I went through her phone record and she was calling this guy sometimes 15 times a day and I found out she was paying for his phone. I saw a text from him saying how much he missed her and it said kiss kiss. Some sugar daddy huh? I confronted her because I was pissed. I could have probably waited and gotten proof of infidelity. I love her to death but I can't take this anymore. I am afraid my only recourse is to end it as she won't stop doing what she is doing. At this point I would be willing to give her one of my business locations just to get her out of my life. If the court views the marriage as starting in 2009 (the first year we filed as married) then I guess I may not have to give her much. I will contact a local attorney this week and try and get an honest opinion of my situation so I can proceed. Half of me want to nail her ass to the wall, and the other half says no thats your sons mother try and make this work. Sucks really.

If you filed a joint 2008 return in 2009, then you are going back to January 1, 2008.

 

[11andy11]

talked to several attorneys today and feel alot better. Thanks for all the helpful advice.

 

[mistoffolees]

If you filed a joint 2008 return in 2009, then you are going back to January 1, 2008.

Wrong date.

A 2008 joint return is only evidence that they were married as of Dec 31, 2008, not Jan 1.

If there was some other event which occurred in 2008, that could be used to set the date (if, for example, she had moved in in October or they purchased a wedding ring in October or made some other change that would change their status during the year, THAT would set the date). Of course, this is all speculative. A tax return by itself is not proof that they were married, only strongly suggestive. If there's other evidence that indicates that they were NOT married (such as describing their status as 'engaged' or setting a wedding date or any number of other things), then the judge will have to decide based on preponderance of the evidence.

If so, of course, they have tax fraud to worry about.

 

[LdiJ]

Wrong date.

A 2008 joint return is only evidence that they were married as of Dec 31, 2008, not Jan 1.

If there was some other event which occurred in 2008, that could be used to set the date (if, for example, she had moved in in October or they purchased a wedding ring in October or made some other change that would change their status during the year, THAT would set the date). Of course, this is all speculative. A tax return by itself is not proof that they were married, only strongly suggestive. If there's other evidence that indicates that they were NOT married (such as describing their status as 'engaged' or setting a wedding date or any number of other things), then the judge will have to decide based on preponderance of the evidence.

If so, of course, they have tax fraud to worry about.

You are right of course, I should have said that it potentially went back to January 1, 2008.

My reason for saying that is because they have been together for 14 years.

They do have potential tax fraud to worry about if they are NOT married at common law. However that is not an absolute given. They will likely need a tax attorney to straighten that part out, because they cannot simply file separate returns now. The IRS might consider it a tax error rather than tax fraud. Deliberately doing something that you knew wasn't correct in order to profit, is fraud. Doing something that you thought was valid, but you were mistaken, is an error.

The penalties are different for fraud vs error.