me and my ex have it agreed in our divorce papers that he claims one child and i claim the other as dependents. The child that he was to claim is now almost 19 and is living with me and the other is living with my ex. Can he legally claim both on his income taxes since one is living with me and is over the age of 18? He will not sign the form 8332 which is the release of claim to exemption for child of divorced or separated parents.Even though my son will soon be 19 does he not have the right to chose who claims him?
I've already tried...
Answers
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if i have my son that lives with me signed a paper stating he lived with me for over half the year and i supported him and have it notorized can i send that along with my income tax return?
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i have a copy of the divorce decree that says i am to claim my youngest son and he would claim the eldest. The eldest is now a week away from being 19 and is living with me and going to school. My ex will not sign the exemption form 8332 and refuses to talk to me.
Expert
In order to claim a child as a dependent, there are some rules that need to be followed.
1) the child has to live with you for more than half the year.
2) you have to provide more than half the support ..
From what you describe he cannot claim both kids, he can only claim the one that lives with him, assuming he pays more than half the support.. he can file as HOH if he is still single.
You can claim the kid that lives with you .. and if you are still single you can claim HOH.
If you file and he has claimed both, then the IRS will sort it out later .. if the extra child he claimed did not live with him and he did not pay half the support, he will not be allowed that exemption.
Best regards,
Paul
About the Expert
Paul Thode has many years of experience preparing taxes. In addiion he has many years of accounting experience, ranging from Assistant Controller to Chief Financial Officer of a publicly traded company. He has a Bachelors in Managerial Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. He has a Master's in Accounting from Golden Gate University. He has an MBA in Finance from Golden Gate University. View Profile
you could get a paper like that, but you don't need to send with your return.
If you ex has not filed, you might point out to him that he can't legally claim the child that lives with you .. and that you will be filing claiming that child ..
If he has already claimed, then just file your return, it will have to be a paper filing, you can't efile this
Paul
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