Tax Refunds

The end of the year is here.  Thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog.  I have gotten a lot of good feedback.  With the end of the year comes tax time.  Unfortunately, divorce cases often drag on for extensive periods of time.  A tax refund is martial property and often times parties separate around the end of the year.  An earlier post of mine located here deals with some tax issues in divorce.  I am in the process of drafting a motion on a case this morning to require the parties on an ongoing divorce case to execute joint tax returns for 2013 with the parties to split the refund.  As long as the parties are married at the end of the year, they can file a joint return.  IRC 6013(a) and 7703(a)(1).  This often benefits both parties more than filing as married filing separate.