
Quoting
dizzydezz55
I realize that I dropped the ball big time, so please go easy on me. Basically, I filed my tax return for 2008 already, and have just found out that my divorce is not yet final. The problem is, I filed as Single because I thought the divorce had been finalized at the beginning of last year. I'm sure you are wondering how I didn't know my divorce was not final and here's the answer. I was an idiot and in order to save hassle/money my ex and I used a family member, who is also a lawyer, to handle all of the paperwork. Since there were no assets, children, etc, it was supposed to be a quick and easy process. The problem is that the family member is married to his sister. Yeah, I know it wasn't smart, but I can't re-do it now. I "assumed" that since I hadn't heard anything from either of them since April 2008(we live in different cities over 5 hours away), that everything was fine and was over. Since this particular family member was basically doing us a favor, he didn't really go into detail about the process with me or give me any information as to what I should expect, etc. I had never even heard of a divorce decree until recently when all of this came to light...my ex basically sent me an email saying he needed my tax information so he could file the taxes and I was shocked. I guess you could say I am young and inexperienced when it comes to this type of thing. Now, what I am worried about is whether or not I will be in some sort of trouble with the IRS. Do they do any sort of routine check when you change your filing status from married to single? I know they didn't do anything when we went from single to married. It was never my intention to commit any sort of fraud, but I don't want this to come back to bite me later on. Any input, knowledge, advice, etc would be most helpful!
I'm in Texas BTW, which is a community property state so I'm sure that throws a HUGE kink in the whole thing