Hello All,
(I will write this as if I am the person of the subject-- my friend, whom I will be helping prepare her taxes this year via TurboTax)
Scenario:
>State= California
>After an amicable marriage dissolution process that took over two years, my divorce from my husband of 19 years was finalized by Court judgement on 9/28/20.
>For the past 14 years, I have been a non-working (outside the home) "stay-at-home wife and mom".
>My (now ex-) husband had been-- and continues to be-- the sole income earner for those 14 years.
>I did not earn income myself over the past 14 years nor the year 2020.
>We had been for all our married years filing Jointly.
>The Court divorce judgement decree states nothing about reporting income for tax purposes.
My having custody of the 14-year old and 19-year-old (turned 19 in October of 2020) children 26 days of a 30 day month, I know that I should file "Head of Household" for the year 2020.
Question:
1) What do I claim for income, if anything?
2) Am I legally obligated in any way to claim any of my (now ex-) husband's earned W-2-reported income for/on my year-2020 tax return?
Answers to the above and any other input on the subject is greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Alvin
