INNOCENT SPOUSE AND IRS
INNOCENT SPOUSE: AN INTRODUCTION
Financial decisions in a marriage are not always a joint venture; wherein both Husband and Wife cooperate in the decision making. In the first few years of my own marriage, my Husband filed our taxes for us. I would check to ensure he put in all my information, but I never looked to see what numbers he was putting into his part of the tax return. Now that I am an attorney practicing in divorce, I know the detrimental effects that can occur in these situations.
Sometimes the spouse in charge of the finances may make misrepresentations to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or they may not file a tax return at all. Even though only one spouse may be in charge of the finances, both Husband and Wife will be jointly and severally liable for any unpaid taxes, fees, interest, and penalties, even if you are the innocent spouse. When getting married, we put a lot of trust and faith in our spouse to do what is right, what is correct, and what is honest; but if something is done with your name attached, I urge you to be just as … Read More... “INNOCENT SPOUSE AND IRS”
Many years ago, a singing icon and legend, Frank Sinatra, released a song entitled “The Second Time Around”…..its words begin as follows—“Love is lovelier the second time around; Just as wonderful with both feet on the ground; It’s that second time you hear your love song sung……..Makes you think perhaps that love, like you, is wasted on the young”…he goes on to praise the greatness of second-time relationships. But, what are the facts about second marriages? Do they fare well or do they fare poorly?
If you smoke cigarettes, there’s a good chance that at some time in your past you’ve made a pact with a friend who also smoked that the two of you were going to try to quit smoking together, but you just couldn’t hold up your end of the deal. In another attempt to quit smoking, maybe you’ve tried one of those “patches” but that didn’t do the trick either. Perhaps you’ve seen those controversial commercials on T.V. where disfigured long-time smokers describe the major health problems that smoking has caused to their bodies, but today you remain a smoker. Well, if you’re still a smoker, and you’ve tried repeatedly to give up the habit, the Family Law attorneys at Holzfaster, Cecil, McKnight & Mues may finally be able to provide you with the extra motivation you need to quit, especially if you are in a 
Students at local universities should be more aware of their surroundings while on their school’s campus. Few students are aware that both University of Dayton (UD) and Wright State University have a charge called “Complicit” within their Codes of Conduct. The charge of “complicit” allows the schools to discipline students who have not actually engaged in behavior that violates the Codes, but who have witnessed that behavior in other students.
The word “celebration” is derived from the verb “celebrate” which is defined as “to commemorate an anniversary, holiday, etc., with festivity”. If you think of a birthday celebration, you think of gifts, a party, and a birthday cake! If you think about a wedding, you think about the ceremony, the reception that follows, and a wedding cake! If you think about someone’s graduation or retirement, there is the assumption of a party with a cake to be included with the celebration. But, do you think about a divorce celebration? Some persons do; and some bakeries are happy to oblige by providing divorce cakes.
This topic is an exceedingly broad one, but I will try to share my insights from my perspective as a practicing family law attorney for the past 34 years. The original idea to write this article was that of Connecticut psychotherapist, Donna Ferber. I thought it was a great idea of hers to tackle this subject; from both a therapist’s perspective and a lawyer’s perspective. Here is the link to Donna’s perceptive take about parenting with an uncooperative parent in her blog article,