Paid Back Taxes for Bigotry Husband

[hmw84]

Jurisdiction

Illinois

I married my first husband and was notified by my employer that my wages were going to garnished because of back taxes and they advised me to contact the local IRS office. I was told by them of course when I married him I married his debt. I paid his back taxes and 10 years later his first wife showed up on our door step asking him to sign her divorce papers. This man was an alcoholic and very abusive I had two kids with him and was afraid to step out on my own until he moved us to SC and he and I got into a fight about 5:00 AM one morning and I couldn't take it any longer. But the question is there anyway I would be able to get my money back from the IRS plus interest and penalty that I shouldn't of paid for him? I have the divorce papers from first wife and then he paid for a divorce lawyer to get a divorce from me, which wasn't needed since he was still married to the first wife, I have both divorce papers from his ex and myself. On top of all of this during the divorce from me he quit his job and his lawyer used my income to say he would only pay me $75.00 a week for both my sons. I moved on got married to a guy that help raised my sons and taught them to be men.
This situation crossed my mind the other day, I though it wouldn't hurt to ask since the IRS don't have a limitation on how long they take to come and get money from the public .Any advise would be appreciated

 

[ElleMD]

You include a whole lot of unnecessary details and mix up a bunch of different issues. It sounds like when you believed you were married to this guy and were reporting to the IRS that you were indeed married (likely by filing a joint return), "you" were on the hook for taxes that were owed. You paid this debt from joint funds, and more than a decade later, found out the marriage may or may not have been legally valid. It is not clear if your pretense of marriage was dissolved for this reason or if you formally divorced, then found out about the first wife. It does not matter either way as the IRS does not owe you anything. As this was more than a decade ago, it is time to put it to rest. If you didn't even know your marriage was invalid or potentially so, I am not sure how you expect the IRS to know that.

 

[army judge]

Just to clarify the title of your post, OP, I suspect you meant BIGAMOUS spouse. Carry on.