Maried fileing joint and marriage license

has there been a requirement to produce a

Yes. They'll take your word for it until they don't.

Phil Marti Clarksburg, MD

never has there been a requirement to produce a

can one be joint simply by having two valid

You've never been through a TCMP audit. In those, the IRS actually asks for proof of marriage.

It is normal and they do care about it. But there are not enough unmarried people claiming MFJ to justify the effort on the part of agents.

This all comes down to the how much you value your signature. Only a miscreant knowingly and wilfully signs their name to a false statement - expecially under of penalty of perjury.

Duplicity is not without its weaknesses. In the few common law marriage states that are left, the taxpayer who did not prepare the tax return MAY be able to pursue a divorce action against the taxpayer who prepared it. But not vice-verse.

Dick

Of course, then you would also have to prove that you haven't gotten divorced, the famous "how do I prove a negative?" conundrum.

Conversely, for a non-married person, how do you prove that you never got married?

-Mark Bole

Do the pan-indentations on the side of his head qualify as proof?

-=- In some states a common law marriage qualifies.

Technically a common law marriage qualifies in every state. The issue is whether the marriage is a valid one under the law of the state of ... uh ... er ... well the word they use is "celebration."

consumation, as in "the wedding feast culminated in the comsumation of the nuptials."

C$, HL

Two m's ... consummation.

Katie in San Diego

When lawyers talk about the place a marriage took place they call it the place of celebration.

As in M-M good?

And while we're at it, let's correct the speling in the subject: "filing".

Merry Christma$, Katie. Harlan

Aw, Harlan, you walked right into this one....

SPELLING has 2 Ls.

Apparently you don't know me very well. (grin)

C$, H

I thought you were going to say, go 2-L!

has there been a requirement to produce a

one be joint simply by having two valid

A marriage license is not a proof that the marriage took place. If you want documentary evidence of the marriage, you need a marriage certificate, but even that does not prove that the couple did not get divorced later. Furthermore, it is possible to be legally married without any official paperwork.