My question involves a marriage in the state of WA.
Five years ago, my husband moved out. As soon as he left, we opened separate bank accounts and we have not joined funds since the week he left. Except that I continued to keep the family phone plan, which was always in my name, and he would reimburse me every month or two for his share of the bill. For the past five years, we have maintained a civil relationship and we always planned to file for divorce at some point.
His visible income has only been social security, so he didn't even need to file income tax, and he hates paperwork. (He does some under-the-table handyman work for people for cash, but nothing big.) For the last five years, he just gave me his social security 1099 form and I filed our taxes electronically, married filing jointly. Doing this saved me a bit of money. I'm modestly self-employed, earning less than $15,000 a year.
Now he is ready for a divorce -- which is fine -- but he is also trying to use the divorce to sue me for some (as yet unspecified) large sum of money. He stated his intent to file a divorce petition, but I got the jump on him and filed first. He has been served with my summons and petition, which doesn't ask him for anything besides a $370 reimbursement for his last five months of phone service. Everything else was divided five years ago.
The day before I filed my divorce petition and before he was served, he left a handwritten note at my house stating that he has "retained the services of an attorney" and that I owe him a large unstated sum of money. In that note, he said that I "need to give him the past five years of income tax returns." (I believe he can afford an attorney because his current partner has money.)
He has not yet responded to my divorce petition; we are still within the 20-day response window. I cannot afford an attorney.
Yesterday he texted me and demanded again that I give him the last five years of tax returns. I responded with a text saying that there are established procedures for requesting documents in court actions and that texting isn't one of those procedures. He sent an angry text back about how he has a right to the tax returns, since they are his as well as mine, and that my refusal will make me look bad to the court.
He's probably right, and I do have the tax returns in my files. They are very vanilla. I just don't feel like making it easy for him to go after me for money.
Am I within my rights to wait for some kind of formal written request for these tax returns -- or at least for a response to my divorce petition? Will my holding onto the tax returns right now affect the outcome of a settlement by making me look uncooperative?
Five years ago, my husband moved out. As soon as he left, we opened separate bank accounts and we have not joined funds since the week he left. Except that I continued to keep the family phone plan, which was always in my name, and he would reimburse me every month or two for his share of the bill. For the past five years, we have maintained a civil relationship and we always planned to file for divorce at some point.
His visible income has only been social security, so he didn't even need to file income tax, and he hates paperwork. (He does some under-the-table handyman work for people for cash, but nothing big.) For the last five years, he just gave me his social security 1099 form and I filed our taxes electronically, married filing jointly. Doing this saved me a bit of money. I'm modestly self-employed, earning less than $15,000 a year.
Now he is ready for a divorce -- which is fine -- but he is also trying to use the divorce to sue me for some (as yet unspecified) large sum of money. He stated his intent to file a divorce petition, but I got the jump on him and filed first. He has been served with my summons and petition, which doesn't ask him for anything besides a $370 reimbursement for his last five months of phone service. Everything else was divided five years ago.
The day before I filed my divorce petition and before he was served, he left a handwritten note at my house stating that he has "retained the services of an attorney" and that I owe him a large unstated sum of money. In that note, he said that I "need to give him the past five years of income tax returns." (I believe he can afford an attorney because his current partner has money.)
He has not yet responded to my divorce petition; we are still within the 20-day response window. I cannot afford an attorney.
Yesterday he texted me and demanded again that I give him the last five years of tax returns. I responded with a text saying that there are established procedures for requesting documents in court actions and that texting isn't one of those procedures. He sent an angry text back about how he has a right to the tax returns, since they are his as well as mine, and that my refusal will make me look bad to the court.
He's probably right, and I do have the tax returns in my files. They are very vanilla. I just don't feel like making it easy for him to go after me for money.
Am I within my rights to wait for some kind of formal written request for these tax returns -- or at least for a response to my divorce petition? Will my holding onto the tax returns right now affect the outcome of a settlement by making me look uncooperative?
Divorce: When Do I Need to Share My Joint Income Tax Return
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