Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland
Spouse's individual tax lien devalues joint marital real property?
I'm divorcing my husband after 30 years in an abusive marriage. I have been living with friends for 18 months and am disabled and on social security disability due to complications from diabetes, obesity, and arthritis. My spouse is healthy and self employed and vowed to voluntarily impoverish himself if I left. He is living in our jointly owned (tenants by the entirety) $200K home near a big city and I am living at the mercy of my friends in a crowded apartment. I worked most of the 30 years and paid my taxes separately. He did not pay his individual or business taxes for 12 years and owes IRS $100K. His lawyer claims the value of our jointly owned home is lessened by his personal tax liability and after he pays his taxes there will not be enough money to pay me anything including alimony or a lump sum from my share of the real estate. In other words, he gets the house and I get nothing. Can they do that? He can still work; I cannot. He has a home to live in; I do not. I have been told it will be up to the judge's discretion whether or not to allow my spouse to force me to give up my share of the real estate to help him pay for his personal taxes, when my taxes have already been paid all these years.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Spouse's individual tax lien devalues joint marital real property?
The last two people you should listen to regarding your legal rights in a divorce are your husband and his lawyer. The lawyer, if he really said what you have reported about marital property, should know better. Your husband's tax debt is his own, not yours, and the value of the home, for purposes of marital property and monetary award decisions, should be decreased only by liens on the property, such as a mortgage. If the IRS does wish to claim the property to satisfy the tax debt, approximately fifty per cent of the value of the property should remain, and it should be yours. A trial court judge does have a great deal of discretion in dealing with the distribution of property in a divorce, but that discretion should work in your favor, not to harm you. If you can convince the judge that you had a valid reason for leaving your husband, that you are not able to be self-supporting, and that your husband is able to support himself and to earn enough to contribute towards your support, you should probably be awarded alimony in addition to a substantial share of marital property. You do need a good family law attorney to represent you, because the judge will not be able to award you what you should receive if the evidence is not presented effectively. If you are trying to negotiate with your husband's lawyer, without a lawyer of your own, you probably will end up with nothing.
Re: Spouse's individual tax lien devalues joint marital real property?
You present an excellent case for getting a court award for alimony as part of your divorce proceeding. Your husband will not be allowed to impoverish himself to avoid paying you alimony. If evidence is presented of his income earning ability, the court will order him to pay even though he may have chosen not to work. Any assets can be used to satisfy his alimony requirement, and in addition you're entitled to a fair share of the marital property. A court can order that the house be sold and the proceeds given to you to satisfy any support requirements, or otherwise to be distributed between you.
All of this should suggest to you that you need an experienced family law attorney to help you get what you are entitled to.
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