Child Support & Taxes: Filing Joint vs. Separate Returns

Question
Hi. I am getting married soon & the man Im with had gotten behind on child support from his first marriage. He is now working on getting it caught up but has any tax refund automatically taken for support. My question is: When we get married would it be better to file a joint return or seperate?

Answer
Hi Kellie~

You can file married but filing separately due to this.  Otherwise, they can take the whole tax return even if you file married and together.  However, they (meaning the state, etc) aren't entitled to take your half of the tax return if you file with him.  But to protect yourself filing married but separately would be your best option.  Otherwise, you have to file paperwork and object to them taking your half, and they have to go into detail to figure out how much of the tax refund is yours and reimburse it back to you (which is a huge pain in the butt and it can be time consuming to get your portion rightfully returned to you, plus you have to object to it, etc).  So therefore you have to take the steps to avoid this from happening in the first place.