How do I handle a client who is divorced and married to a different person in the same year?

Forum|Forum|16 days ago
September 15, 2026
2 replies
65 views

This client had always filed a joint return with spouse #1. In the same year the client divorced spouse #1 and married spouse # 2. I need the tax carryforwards to stay with the client. How do I handle this in Lacerte?

Lacerte Tax

PhoebeRoberts

Intuit Community Champion

There are a couple of ways of doing it, depending mostly on personal preference. Probably the easiest is to just change the spouse’s name and SSN in the 2025 data file. If not all of the carryforwards belonged to one person, splitting the return in either 2024 or 2025 can work, too.

IntuitKatie

Moderator

If the carryforwards belong to the taxpayer, you may be able to retain the existing taxpayer client file and update the spouse information for the new spouse.

If carryforwards need to be separated between the taxpayer and former spouse, Lacerte also has a Split Joint Return feature that may be helpful:

How to split a Married Filing Jointly return in Lacerte

For assistance with the Lacerte steps for your specific client file, you can also reach out to Lacerte Support.

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