Preparing for Sept. filing - what would you do with these "gaps"?

[eckoin 211]

I'm trying to get a handle on what we'll be submitting to identify any gaps. Here's the gist:

 

In October 2019, we moved to another state and bought a house. As of then, we have a joint title to the house, a joint account, all bills are in both names, all good.  We only did this in Sept/Oct since before that there was no real need. 

 

We didn't have any issues with AOS, but it did make me uneasy at the time (lack of joint accounts or joint bills). 

 

Now that we'll be able to show a year worth of entirely commingled financial life, what should I do with the 2018-2019 year? Pretend it didn't exist, or send the statements to the joint account for all two years (I added my husband to mine, so I've had it for a while) and ignore the rest since I won't be sending full two years worth of bills anyway? Or just write a letter explaining what I explained here? 

 

How would you handle such gaps? 

[Stevephoto 230]

11 hours ago, eckoin said:

 

Now that we'll be able to show a year worth of entirely commingled financial life, what should I do with the 2018-2019 year? Pretend it didn't exist, or send the statements to the joint account for all two years (I added my husband to mine, so I've had it for a while) and ignore the rest since I won't be sending full two years worth of bills anyway? Or just write a letter explaining what I explained here? 

 

 

Send whatever you have that spans the length of your marriage including statements from any joint accounts---banks, credit cards, etc.  (I think we sent every 3rd or 4th month--it's been a while so I forgot). Are you each other's beneficiaries on 401K/annuities/life insurance plans? Send those! The year of joint home ownership is very good (I THINK Joan and had refinanced the home just prior to filing ROC and included that even though it was new). Finally, as TBoneX always says, wills and medical power of attorney are great for ROC, but better for real life! Best of luck to you!

[NikLR 13,227]

People assume that if it didnt span the whole 2 years, its not worth anything.  Spanning a year, a few months, a few days is better than not spanning at all.  You can explain why you chose the path you did.  Our wills were signed the day our ROC package went out because we were at UPS and they have a notary.  Our house was purchased a year into our life together in the USA and my name was never on the lease of our apartment. (Nor am I on the mortgage to our home but I am on the deed.)  Send what you have, explain decisions if they are contradictory to what is requested. 

Edited March 15, 2020 by NikLR

[eckoin 211]

3 hours ago, NikLR said:

People assume that if it didnt span the whole 2 years, its not worth anything.  Spanning a year, a few months, a few days is better than not spanning at all.  You can explain why you chose the path you did.  Our wills were signed the day our ROC package went out because we were at UPS and they have a notary.  Our house was purchased a year into our life together in the USA and my name was never on the lease of our apartment. (Nor am I on the mortgage to our home but I am on the deed.)  Send what you have, explain decisions if they are contradictory to what is requested. 

That's what I was wondering - is it worth just writing a one pager about our major life events and a brief explanation of how those events happened? Or am I already overthinking it? 

 

I was thinking of just writing that we lived in my husband's house when we had our existing accounts from before our life together, and therefore I'm attaching the account history from the time of our move, which is when it made sense to start the process together. So please find attached 11 months of history as of today (Sept). 

 

Overkill? To they care for this? Or just send 24 months of bank statements and let them figure out when it became a joint account, joint returns, house title, and the recent bills, call it a day? 

[NikLR 13,227]

31 minutes ago, eckoin said:

That's what I was wondering - is it worth just writing a one pager about our major life events and a brief explanation of how those events happened? Or am I already overthinking it? 

 

I was thinking of just writing that we lived in my husband's house when we had our existing accounts from before our life together, and therefore I'm attaching the account history from the time of our move, which is when it made sense to start the process together. So please find attached 11 months of history as of today (Sept). 

 

Overkill? To they care for this? Or just send 24 months of bank statements and let them figure out when it became a joint account, joint returns, house title, and the recent bills, call it a day? 

Doesnt hurt to write it tbh.