Married jointly vs separately

According-Designer15 · 2026-01-13T06:13:43+00:00

Most attorneys recommend filing separately once you're in active divorce proceedings unless there's a massive tax benefit and you trust her to report everything accurately and you can get it written into your settlement that she holds you harmless for any issues....otherwise you're opening yourself up to shared liability on a return with someone who has zero incentive to protect you anymore. Talk to your divorce attorney and a CPA before deciding, because whatever you save on taxes could get wiped out if she claims deductions you're not aware of or if the IRS comes back with questions later and you're both on the hook. If she's willing to file jointly and split the refund fairly as part of settlement, get it in writing with protection.... if not, file separately and take the smaller refund rather than the joint risk.

MediaApprehensive858 · 2026-01-13T04:26:51+00:00

I guess my question is. We are going amicable divorce. Will be saving 5k in taxes since she is a real estate professional if we do it jointly. Is it worth the headache. Any thoughts ?

pk2at · 2026-01-13T03:00:13+00:00

Next year you can file using single status. That is what IRS rules say

Grafixx01 · 2026-01-13T02:51:52+00:00

So you can do as you like. You can talk with her and go to like H&R Block, they can run you and her separately and then jointly for a rough estimate on what can happen, even adding in kids and some deductions (like house). I did this with my exwife last year for 2024. I owed like $3k, she owed like $12k, together it was like $13k. We ended up doing it married but separately and each claiming one child, I gave her the ability to claim our youngest which also included daycare.

Venum555 · 2026-01-13T02:48:06+00:00

You file based on your status on the last day of the year.

yankeephil86 · 2026-01-13T01:00:45+00:00

You need to ask this in r/tax. But you probably want to file HoH depending on how long ago she moved out

RiseNo3399 · 2026-01-13T00:50:05+00:00

Married at end of year. Include filing jointly in your agreement

Salty-Amoeba-3139 · 2026-01-13T00:48:07+00:00

I don’t have advice for you but I have same question so following thread

Title	Married jointly vs separately
Author	MediaApprehensive858
Upvotes	6
Comments	12
Date	January 12, 2026 9:31 PM UTC (6 months ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/Divorce_Men
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/Divorce_Men/comments/1qb7xgo/married_jointly_vs_separately/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/Divorce_Men/married-jointly-vs-separately.1571031 https://theredarchive.com/post/1571031

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