Question: When my husband and I divorced three years ago, he was ordered to pay me both alimony and child support for our two children. I lost my job two years ago and worked part time, but it took every penny I got to support me and our children. No one ever told me that the alimony would be taxed to me, so other than the taxes that employers withheld from my salary, I never thought about income taxes until my 2005 refund check was taken. I went to an accountant who has been trying to negotiate with the IRS. And, I just learned that I will owe more than $2,000 in taxes for 2006. I don’t have the money and can't borrow anything.

Answer: If you don't have the money to pay the taxes you owe, you and your accountant may want to ask the IRS to agree to accept installment payments. To do this, assuming you owe less than $25,000, you should complete an Installment Request Form (IRS Form 9465) and attach it to your tax return. You can find this form online at www.irs.gov. In the future, plan to pay estimated taxes on your alimony each quarter as required by law.

Question: My husband has been verbally and sometimes physically abusive to me during our nine-year marriage. After the abuse, he always promises that if I don’t get him in trouble, he won’t hurt me again. So, I have lied about how I got my bruises in order to protect his job with state government.

I have moved out of the bedroom from time to time, but continue to stay with him because I have nowhere to go and he knows it. My parents are both dead, and I am an only child. I have no way to get money as he will not allow me to work, even though our two children are in school.

Things are fine until something sets him off. When I finally got the nerve to see a lawyer to try to get a divorce, I was told that because I had lived with him for 60 days since the last abuse, the judge would rule that I forgave him and will make me wait until I am abused again to let me get out of the relationship. Why should I have to take more abuse in order to get protection?

Answer: Apparently, in your state, continuing to live in the same house after the marital offense occurred amounts to a presumption that you and your husband had made up and that you had forgiven him. Because of the duty of courts to attempt to preserve marriages, forgiveness may be based on continued cohabitation after a marital offense. But this forgiveness is conditioned on your husband not committing future marital offenses. If he does, his past conduct may be revived.

Therefore, you are going to have to make a decision about the rest of your life: Either continue to protect your husband’s employment, or protect yourself. Once you make that decision, you should call 911 the next time you are abused and then call your lawyer. Since your husband will probably contest your allegations, you might find yourself swimming upstream; however, as a dependent spouse with no place to go, the court might see it your way. In any event, it you are afraid, get your evidence and be ready to move ahead.