Taxes- married filing separate

I need some advice. So I’m wondering if this would be our best bet when filing taxes. We are married, own our home, and have a 1 year old. Bad news is, my husband owes taxes (about 4K) from before I even met him and normally the IRS just takes his entire return.

I’m wondering how hard/ if it’s in our best interest to file separately so I will get my return plus our daughters child tax credit. We are in the process of moving and the extra cash would be awesome! But again, I don’t want it to be a huge hassle with all the paperwork having to file separately. Any other couples do this???