My question involves a marriage in the state of: Texas, Bexar County

County records website includes the divorce and cause #, and has a status of "disposed" (like all legitimate divorces). I paid an attorney as a plaintiff in 2002 to represent me in a divorce, my ex hired an attorney to represent him, our children are in their 20's. We attended court, had it recorded, the judge announced that we were divorced and hit his gavel... also announcing that I had gotten my maiden name back.

My ex informs me that our attorneys negated that case and never filed a decree because of non-payment and that we are still married. I had never heard this until the IRS caught up with him 2 years ago for not paying income tax .. ever. Very convenient. So, I dug deeper into the related court documents which confirmed this. I found that my ex's attorney filed to withdraw the divorce because of non-payment. The court processed it thus cancelling out the divorce. I was never notified by the court, my attorney or anyone until now.

My ex is willing to get a fast no nonsense divorce, in fact we drew up a generic decree referencing the original cause #, and discovered that we would have to start all over, file it for a minimal fee through the state attorneys office, all without hiring attorneys.

My question is this - Can he or will the IRS make me responsible for tax problems? Should I hire a private attorney to draw up the divorce decree that covers me? How much would this attorney charge me? There would be no dispute or any property or children involved and I'm not willing to pay much, so what is your advice? thank you.