Should I Sign That Joint Tax Return

As some of you procrastinators may be aware, the October “tax season” just ended. As a result, in the last few weeks I was asked numerous times to evaluate whether or not one of the spouses undergoing a marital dissolution should sign a “married filing joint” tax return prepared by their spouse (or their spouses advisors).  The reason this question gets asked so often in these situations is because the spouse who did not prepare the joint return is afraid that the spouse who prepared the return may have understated the income or perhaps overstated deductions.