Do they need to pay?

[eakub2006]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NE

My grandma remarried very late in life. She passed away early 2009. Then her new spouse passed away early this year (2010). The son of her new spouse produced a bill from the IRS for my grandma and says that my parents are responsible for it. I am not sure from what year the bill is from, but my grandma was married to this man for about 6 years (up until her death). Are my parents legally obligated to pay the bill?

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NE

My grandma remarried very late in life. She passed away early 2009. Then her new spouse passed away early this year (2010). The son of her new spouse produced a bill from the IRS for my grandma and says that my parents are responsible for it. I am not sure from what year the bill is from, but my grandma was married to this man for about 6 years (up until her death). Are my parents legally obligated to pay the bill?

Grandma's estate was responsible for paying the bill.

 

[eakub2006]

I don't understand what that means. Her spouse kept what was left of her money after all the nursing home and hospital bills were paid, she didn't own any property separate from him. Basically, my parents lost everything to him except for a couple of things (i.e. CDs) that were left in our names.

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

LEGALLY, grandma's spouse needed to pay the IRS bill out of the monies received at grandma's death. Your parents are NOT responsible for grandma's bills. The spouse failed to pay what was legally owed. At this point, it would be the spouse's estate that needs to pay what should have been paid.

 

[eakub2006]

Okay, thank you very much. I will let them know.

 

[Zigner]

LEGALLY, grandma's spouse needed to pay the IRS bill out of the monies received at grandma's death. Your parents are NOT responsible for grandma's bills. The spouse failed to pay what was legally owed. At this point, it would be the spouse's estate that needs to pay what should have been paid.

Not quite...

The spouse's estate is responsible for the total amount left over from grandma's estate.

Let's use hypothetical numbers:

G'ma owes $10,000

G'ma dies with a net amount passing to the spouse of $5,000 (excluding the unpaid taxes)

Since the spouse should not have received the $5,000 (it should have gone to pay the tax), then the spouse's estate would be responsible up to $5,000. Anything over that the spouse's estate is NOT responsible for.


I will gladly stand corrected if this information is not correct...and I'm not saying that sarcastically.

ETA: Unless the kids got a portion of the estate, they are not responsible to the taxing authority.

 

[davew128]

If this was a joint return generating the tax (almost a certainty) then I don't think any of you are correct. The spouse's estate owes the tax because the spouse owed the tax as a joint and several liability when he signed the return. OP has stated that grandma was married to this man for 6 years up until her death. It was his tax debt as much as hers unless there are facts not present.

If this is a tax debt predating the marriage, then the result is different. More facts are clearly needed.

 

[eakub2006]

To answer your questions, the taxes were from while they were married (I was just informed of this). Their taxes were always filed separately because she didn't want him to have control over her money. However, when she died, he ended up getting her money anyway.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NE

My grandma remarried very late in life. She passed away early 2009. Then her new spouse passed away early this year (2010). The son of her new spouse produced a bill from the IRS for my grandma and says that my parents are responsible for it. I am not sure from what year the bill is from, but my grandma was married to this man for about 6 years (up until her death). Are my parents legally obligated to pay the bill?

Absolutely not. Your grandmother's estate would have been responsible for the bill, (which likely her husband or his POA controlled) and if it was a joint return with her husband, his estate would now be responsible for the bill.

The only exception might be if they were executors of your grandmother's estate, but even then, if it was a joint bill with her husband, his estate would now be responsible.