Actually - there is no penalty to borrow from your retirement accounts. You can borrow up to $50k for a maximum of 5 years - ten if you use it to purchase a house. You pay a small ($75-$100) transaction fee and then you pay yourself back with interest. It's crazy easy. I just didn't know that you could only borrow $50,000 maximum in a rolling 12 month period, even if you pay it all back. I used up all my cash paying back the $50,000 loan, so that I could take out a $14,000 loan to pay the taxes. (If you're wondering why - it's because the $50k loan payments were $1000 a month, but the $14k loan payment is only $300 a month.) But now I've paid back the original loan and can't take another one out, leaving me with no cash! Aargh!

It's not that we can't afford it - it's that we don't have the cash right now to pay the lump sum taxes and the first half is due at the end of May. I can't save up $7,000 in 30 days.

The way this ties into divorce is that I was supposed to leave June 1st, but I don't see how I can now, so I'm stuck here a few more months.