MarkTwain,

You wrote, As in "I cannot reconcile our desire to save $20K on the yearly taxes and the fact that we are married?" That is enough? Is that legal?

I'm not a lawyer ... but I'm pretty sure it is.

Also, There may be another option: Deferring income by one of us. Care to vet this idea?

I make a good deal less than you, but I was eligible for a deferred compensation plan with my last employer. I'm afraid I just couldn't bring myself to take that risk.

The assets in a deferred compensation plans are the property of your employer until they are paid out. The obligation to pay you is an unsecured debt of the company. (This should be spelled out in the collateral provided by the employer.) That means you are assuming the default risk any unsecured bond holder would assume with your employer and may be doing it for a very long (think 30 years) term with a very large fraction of your net worth. Do you think your employer will last that long? I work for a major corporation now and I'm still not sure I would take that risk - at least not with as much of my income as you are contemplating.

- Joel