Robert P. Petrocine - Page 13

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          act by [which evidence of the judicial act is] recorded."  Parker           
          v. Parker, 319 A.2d 750, 751 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1974);              
          see also Mahonchak v. Mahonchak, supra at 1208 ("It is well                 
          settled that the oral pronouncement of a judgment in open court             
          on the record constitutes the jural act and that the entry of the           
          written judgment is merely a ministerial memorialization                    
          thereof").                                                                  
               The evidence establishes that in court on December 21, 1992,           
          the divorce court judge orally pronounced petitioner and his wife           
          divorced.  Under the law of New Jersey, such a pronouncement is             
          sufficient to render a divorce judgment effective nunc pro tunc.            
          We conclude that, for Federal income tax purposes, petitioner was           
          divorced from his wife as of December 21, 1992, qualifying                  
          petitioner to file his 1992 Federal income tax return as a single           
          taxpayer.  Mahonchak v. Mahonchak, supra at 1208-1209.                      

          1991 -- AMT                                                                 
               The AMT was established to prevent high income taxpayers               
          from using large amounts of deductions and credits to reduce                
          their taxable income to a lower tax bracket than that of                    
          taxpayers who have more modest taxable income.  1 Mertens, Law of           
          Federal Income Taxation, sec. 2A.01, at 1 (1990).  The AMT                  
          applies to the extent that taxpayers' tentative minimum tax                 
          exceeds the taxpayers' regular income tax.  Sec. 55(a).                     







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