Estate of Keith L. Gurr - Page 13




                                       - 12 -                                         

                    A     –- at first she was going to sign it.  And I                
               says, "What are you doin'?  Why are you just signing that?             
               Hasn't that gotten you into trouble in the past?"  And so              
               then she started to question it.  And then he –- Billjanic             
               stated to her, "What do you care what is in the return?                
               It's going to make you not have to pay taxes for the rest of           
               your life.  There's a big credit.  Half of it's going to be            
               declared to you in the divorce decree, so just sign it."  I            
               says, "What are the credits from?  At least you could tell             
               us what the credits are from," and he would not tell us.  He           
               says –- he says, "I really don't know.  They're here.  Sign            
               it.  It benefits your mother.  That's all there is to it."             

          On cross-examination, petitioner's daughter further testified:              

                    Q     You mentioned that you told your mom, when she              
               was going to sign the return –- * * * "Now, Mom, what are              
               you doing?"  You know, "Hasn't this gotten you in enough               
               trouble in the past?"                                                  
                    A     Right.                                                      
                    Q     What were you talking about?                                
                    A     Well, just from how badly that he treated her and           
               that he just expected her to do things.  She never knew what           
               was going on.  I felt that she succumbed to my father and              
               let him rule her and that she should be trying to                      
               investigate, to read the documents, and to know what's going           
               on.  I felt that she needed to understand what was going on            
               because much of her life she had been beaten down to the               
               point of where she didn't care what was going on and she               
               needed to learn this.  She needed to be independent and read           
               the documents and understand them before she signed them.              

               As a general rule, spouses filing a joint return are each              
          jointly and severally liable for the full tax liability for the             
          taxable year of the return under section 6013(d)(3).  Section               
          6015, however, provides several avenues for relief from the                 
          imposition of joint and several liability on a spouse.  Section             





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Last modified: May 25, 2011