Recent Feedback
I am a single mother of 2 and want to insure that i will continue getting to claim both of my children on my taxes each year. They reside with me more than 75% of the year and only see their father on weekends. He does pay support, but did sign them over to me in the divorce for full legal and physical custody. As well as grant me to have both children as exemptions every year. He is now going back on this and wants to claim them now. Can he do this?
Optional Information: State/Country: Idaho Already Tried: no one yet
HiCustomerbr />Thank you for using justanswer. IRS recently clarified who has the superior right to claim a biological chld on their taxes as their dependent under the Qualifying Child rules. Assuming the child did not provide more than half of their own support either thru employment, investments, or inheritances, was under age 19 (or under age 24 if a full time student) then the parent that the child lived with for more than half the year, making that parent the "custodial parent'. This means that with very few exceptions, the custodial parent is the person who has the right to claim the child on their tax return. Please pay particular attention to the sub section Children of divorced or separated parents contained further down the page from the link I provided, especially if this was a pre 1985 divorce.All of this information is contained in Publication 501 (2008), Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information Please let meknow if you have any follow up questions. I hope this helps.
my real concern is that he makes more money than I do and from what i have read that he might be able to claim them that way. Does it make a differance? Also he did give me all the rights in our divorice to claim both children, as well as both full legal & physical custody of the children
As long as both of the parents combined income provides more than half of the support the child, the law states that the custodial parent (the parent with whom the child lived with for more that half the year) is entitiled to claim the child. It doesn't matter if the father actually contributes more towards the child's support than you do (unless, as mentioned above this is a pre 1985 divorce) its where the child lived for more than half the year that is the deciding factor.I hope this helps.
Experience: Enrolled Agent with 25 Years Experience specializing Individual and Small Businesses