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5. Nonrequesting Spouse’s Legal Obligation To Pay Tax
At the time this case was tried, petitioner had filed a
petition for dissolution of her marriage to Mr. Barrera, but a
final judgment of dissolution had not been issued by the court.
Petitioner argues, however, that the legal obligation factor
weighs in favor of relief because, as part of the dissolution
proceedings, she and Mr. Barrera had entered into a marital
settlement agreement under which Mr. Barrera had assumed the
obligation to pay the outstanding joint Federal income tax
liabilities for taxable years 1998, 1999, and 2000 in their
entirety.
Because petitioner had not yet obtained a final judgment of
dissolution, it is not clear that the marital settlement
agreement imposed a legal obligation upon Mr. Barrera to pay the
outstanding liabilities at the time this case was tried. Even
taking the marital settlement agreement into consideration,
however, we do not think that this factor favors relief in this
case. The legal obligation factor weighs in favor of relief only
if the requesting spouse did not know or have reason to know
that, at the time the divorce decree or agreement was entered
into, the nonrequesting spouse would not pay the liability. Rev.
Proc. 2000-15, sec. 4.03(1)(e), 2000-1 C.B. at 449. On the facts
of this case, petitioner had reason to know that Mr. Barrera
would not pay the outstanding liabilities at the time she and Mr.
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