My nasty ex did it to me again. He refused to pay his income tax and the irs put a lien on the marital home which we are supposed to sell. Of course, he refused to place the property for sale and left it all up to me to place for sale and accept a buyer. I found out doing a title search. Anyone been in this situation and what did you do? Thanks for any help.
V.
You need a tax attorney..... a professional who knows what to do in this situation.
You make get some words of advice here but be careful....the advice here is not professional/legal advice.
Don't mess with the IRS. Consult professional, it will save you money in the long run.
You might be able to find a real estate attorney to help as well..........I don't know, but either way, you need an attorney............
You also need to put out in the paper that you are no longer responsible for his debts.........and I would make sure you do that through an attorney as well.............If you are to split, the cost of the house equity, I would make sure you take his lien out of your half...........if that is possible. In other words, don't give him all the money, takes his part and pay off his lien so you get all that you are supposed to get!
Good Luck and take care.
I have been in the mortgage field for almost 2 decades & have seen this happen time & time again. Of course the best thing to do is consult with an attorney. Hopefully you and your ex are divorced and the divorce proceedings started prior to the tax season of the past due amounts & he filed independent rather than joint. Then maybe you can talk to the judge & a couple things may be able to help you 1)if there is any equity that would be split between both of you then his portion would go directly to the IRS & he would get what's remaining or if there is a balance still owed he will have to pay it 2)ask the judge to have ex contact IRS so they can maybe take off lien & garnish his wages 3)Is the lien against you also or just ex? if you are part of it then call IRS & see what they have to say
In order for you to close on the house you will need a payoff letter from the IRS. The money will be sent directly from the title company to payoff the lien, they will NOT give anyone the money to send to the IRS it must be done directly from the title company so no funny business goes on.
Obviously this is a big problem & unless you or him pay off the lien when the house is sold either with your own money or the equity, then this won't go away. Don't forget you/he can negotiate with the IRS to lower the amount & hopefully that would help some. Good luck
Get legal counsel. There are attorneys that deal with this sort of stuff.
In a nasty divorce with refusal to sell, go to the court and request a receiver. The receiver is an independent lawyer that the court will appoint to sell your house efficiently and without any cooperation from the parties involved. It gets the house sold and elimiates the tax issue. Best wishes, it took us 5 years of playing nice, then five months in court. It's gone now and its a huge relief! Good luck!!
