Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn (to say nothing of Ol’ Blue Eyes) to the contrary notwithstanding (as the expensive lawyers say), you can have one without the other, when one spouse is out of the country, even if the other is right here. That is, you can have the 150-day extended window for filing a petition.

You may remember my blogpost “Inside, Outside”, 2/28/13, when Deb Smith got the extender from Judge Foley, even though the whereabouts of her (presumptive) spouse were unknown. And apparently Deb’s spouse wasn’t named in the SNOD.

STJ Daniel A. (“Yuda”) Guy, Jr., has one where both spouses are named in the SNOD, and gives us a designated hitter on a day when not much else is doing around 400 Second Street, NW, in the District.

The order is Hichem Tounsi & Rita Tounsi, Docket No. 28674-12S, filed 7/31/13.

Hichem might or might not have been around (STJ Guy isn’t sure), but no doubt the petition arrived on Day 105, too late for the 90-day cutoff but timely for the 150.

STJ Guy: “Mrs. Tounsi was outside the United States in Costa Rica at the time the notice of deficiency was mailed, and she experienced a delay in receipt of the notice. Although we are uncertain as to Mr. Tounsi’s whereabouts at the time the notice of deficiency was mailed, where a joint notice of deficiency is sent to a husband and wife, and either of them is outside the United States, the 150-day rule applies to both.” Order, at p. 1 (Citations omitted, but STJ Guy earlier cited Judge Foley’s opinion in Deb Smith’s case).

They might go together like a horse and carriage, but either one can trigger the 150-day extender.