Killeen, TX Divorce Law Firms & Lawyers

There is no proper legal status called a "legal separation."  It is legal, meaning not unlawful, for spouses to separate at any time, with or without the ultimate goal of obtaining a divorce.  In practice, spouses usually separate at or before the time one files for a divorce.Your marital status as of the end of your tax year will determine what marital status to claim on your federal tax returns. Your accountant would best be able to explain to you whether it will be to your advantage to complete a divorce proceeding before the end of the year to take advantage of the "single" filing status or whether it would be to your advantage to wait to complete a divorce next year in order to file either a "joint" tax return or "married, filing separately."There is a mandatory sixty day waiting period in Texas from the time you file for divorce before a divorce can actually be granted.  In practice, because of the time it usually takes to negotiate and prepare a final decree of divorce and schedule time with the court for a prove-up, I'd give it six months.

If her spouse's income puts her into a higher tax bracket, that is the one the court should use, if she files married filing jointly. Support is always modifiable, so she may have grounds to have support recalculated.

You must get certified copies of the qualified domestic relations order and send that to the plans administrator. If you ask, your attorney will do it for you and probably do it right.