Five Tax Facts to Know When Divorcing

If you have recently gotten divorced or are currently involved in the process, one thing you need to think about is how you’re going to file your taxes. This is something that no one enjoys, and filing is made more complicated if you divorced during the past year.

You may want to engage a certified public accountant (CPA) to help you through this process, but in the meantime, here are some basic facts that you should know about filing taxes as a recently divorced person.

 

1. Know Your Filing Status

To file as a married person, you need to have been married for the entire year. If your divorce took place at any time during the year in question, you would file as a single person (assuming you haven’t already gotten married again). The exception to this is that you can file as head of household if you are a custodial parent.

 

2. Claim Children per the Divorce Decree

In your divorce decree, a judge will decide who gets to claim what child. If you only have one child, it may rotate every year. It is important that you follow the decree precisely to ensure that you do not get into trouble with the IRS in the event that both you and your ex claim the children on your taxes.

 

3. Know Your Deductions

If you pay child support, this is not tax-deductible—but alimony is. Likewise, if your support was deemed family support, the entire amount is tax deductible. Conversely, if you are receiving child support, you do not have to claim it as income, but you do have to claim alimony as income. You would also need to claim the entire amount of family support as income so that there is an actual tax strategy involved when completing your divorce.

 

4. You May Need a Form 8332

A judge may give you the ability to claim a child for the purpose of a tax exemption or credit, even if they live with you less than six months out of the year. To protect yourself, you should have your ex sign form 8832 to ensure that he or she does not also try to claim the child and create a red flag with the IRS.

 

5. Child Care Credits Can Save You Money

If you or your spouse were providing in-home care for your children during the marriage but are now both working, your kids may now be in daycare. In this case, there is a child care credit you may be eligible for. Just keep in mind that only the custodial parent can claim this credit.

 

Other Tax Considerations Related to Divorce

Something else to consider is that you may want to change your deductions on your W-4 form. When you are no longer married, you will have fewer deductions, and it is important to ensure that enough taxes are being withheld from your weekly or monthly paychecks. Otherwise, you could end up with a large tax bill at the end of the year.

Even if you typically file taxes on your own, it is wise to engage an accountant or CPA to guide you through the process the first year after your divorce. Once your taxes have been filed under your new status and you understand the exemptions and credits you qualify for, it will be easier to file on your own.

 

Help from a Rancho Cucamonga Divorce Attorney

It is also within your best interests to call 909-466-7661 or complete the form below to speak with the Law Office of Laurence J. Brock. We understand tax implications and how to protect your rights by ensuring that all necessary tax issues are addressed in the final divorce decree. Otherwise, ambiguity could lead to both future complications and disputes between you and your ex.

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Parental Rights in a Same-Sex Divorce

The American Bar Association estimates that roughly four million gay and lesbian parents are raising between six and ten million kids in our country. Under California law, same-sex married couples are supposed to have the same rights as heterosexual ones.

However, the courts are still figuring out how to handle cases that have different aspects than same-sex ones. Since legislation has changed many times and the laws and cases are new, both the California Courts and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) suggest that same-sex parents establish their parentage legally with proper documentation.

 

Circumstances Vary in Same-Sex Marriages

Things can get tricky in divorces where the couple was together for years before marriage was even an option or decided on domestic partnership. There are also formalities having to do with where couples were married or lived. In cases where children came from a previous heterosexual marriage, gay and lesbian parents can face bias from judges who are not ideologically aligned with their lifestyle. And as California has seen with Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act, politicians can quickly take away what activists have worked so hard to achieve.

As with any custody case, the same criteria are evaluated: the child’s welfare and health; the relationship and caretaking duties of the parents; the presence of physical, drug, or alcohol abuse; and more. Unfortunately, however, things aren’t always so cut-and-dried.

 

Custody and Support Challenges

Many scenarios play out in same-sex divorces involving child custody. A non-biological parent can find his or herself out in the cold, heartbroken at being denied visitation rights to a child he or she nurtured since birth. Or a biological parent can suddenly find his or herself the sole parent as the other partner wants to give up parenting along with the partnership.

An in-depth analysis of parental responsibilities might be required if one partner is trying to paint the other as absent or uncaring. For instance, analyzing which partner spent more time caring for the children can be projected unfairly. One can appear to have committed less time when actually there may have been an agreement that one parent spend more time on career for the good of the family.

Of course, many couples want to split amicably, but the hard slog of determining visitation schedules and splitting expenses and other daily parenting duties can put strain on the most well-meaning of parents.

 

Consult a Rancho Cucamonga Same-Sex Divorce Attorney

As with all custody cases, it’s hard to separate the range of emotions a partner is feeling from what’s best for the child. Dealing with a separation or a divorce involving kids makes a confusing time even worse, and for same-sex couples, the process gets even more complicated.

If you are considering divorce, having a custody dispute, want to establish yourself as a legal parent or guardian, or have any other marriage-related legal issues, call Attorney Laurence J. Brock for a free consultation. He has been helping California clients resolve these issues for three decades and knows how to navigate the current same-sex marriage laws to help partners fight for their parental rights. Schedule your case evaluation by calling 909-466-7661 or by completing the form below.

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