What is the best time to file for divorce?

People who are planning to divorce often want to know when is the best time to file for divorce. When people are considering divorce, they have overwhelming concerns and issues that they want to address with their lawyers.  Asset distribution, along with alimony and child support if there are children of the marriage, are routinely primary concerns for divorcing couples. Often people ignore another significant, important issue that can have an impact both during and following divorce and that is the relationship between taxes and divorce. It is important to consult with a tax accountant in addition to a family law practitioner when you are divorcing to ensure that you not only have answers to all of your tax related questions but that you have an understanding of how your divorce matters may be impacted by tax issues.  Many circumstances can arise pertaining to taxes such as filing taxes during a divorce, filing taxes after divorce and when you are married but separated and filing taxes. Questions such as who claims a child on taxes during divorce should be addressed before your divorce is finalized. While some of these issues may not arise until after the divorce, they still must still be considered at the time of the divorce. 

Does it matter what time of year you get divorced?

It does matter what time of year you get divorced for tax purposes.  If you are not married on December 31st of any given year, you cannot file your taxes jointly with your spouse for that year. Whether or not you will be able to file jointly in a particular year, may dictate how you handle your divorce. Oftentimes people work together to reach an agreement as to the best time to divorce for taxes. There are many considerations that people want answered when considering divorce such as is it better to be divorced for taxes? Do you pay less if you are married? 

A tax accountant is best situated to answer questions pertaining to Internal Revenue divorce rules and reporting divorce to the Internal Revenue Service.  It is important to understand how existing tax obligations will be treated following a divorce and whether you and your spouse are able to reach certain agreements between yourselves.  You may be limited in how you can handle or apportion certain pre-existing tax obligations.  Understanding what rights you have and how the Internal Revenue Service handles certain issues is necessary for you to protect your interests.

There may be a difference between whether it is the best time to file for divorce financially and whether it is the best time to file for divorce for taxes. 

If you have not had to file your taxes before, you may have to learn how you file taxes after divorce.

Filing taxes with children will be impacted by the divorce. It is best to reach an agreement with your spouse as to how you will handle claiming your child as a dependent deduction on your returns annually once the divorce is finalized. 

If you are contemplating divorce or are already involved in a divorce, contact our legal experts at DeTorres & DeGeorge today to address all of your questions related to taxes and divorce. We are able to help you at any phase of your divorce.