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Joint Custody; (Tax Returns) Who to claim the children?

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2

2children

Guest
What is the name of your state? California

We share joint custody. Dad 43%, Mom 57% court ordered.
The kids have been staying at Dads more than at Moms this year.
With Mom not working all of 2002, but just got married 12/2001, who gets to claim the children on their tax return for 2002? Her new spouse does have an income, but she as an individual does not.
 


K

Kassie

Guest
I am curious about this same thing pretty much. Except in my case. the dad has always worked under the table, and I have always worked full time....so for almost 5 years now I have been the one to claim her. We have shared custody on a verbal agreement but I am in the process of making the schedule official. It will probably be the same arrangments as 2children has, I am curious if that will change the way I have filed?

Good question 2children!!! I didn't even think about that aspect......
 

CMSC

Senior Member
Just a suggestion but if it doesn't say in your court order what to do you could either, go back and have it modified OR why not split the children tax wise? You claim one she claim one? Or agree to swap years, she does this year, you do next year.
 
N

njmom

Guest
suggestions....

If I am not mistaken, if both parents have 50/50 split custody, the parent who earns the most money that year is entitled to claim the children. Now, in your case it's not exactly 50/50, but close enough. I agree with ry, if you can split the children and there are no problems, that is the best route to go. I know in my case, I have my son way more than his father, but his dad makes way more money than I, so I let him claim the baby so he at least has one dependant and he can then claim head of household. Just my opinion
 
S

sunshyne_828

Guest
my husband has two kids from previous marriage and he claims one and the ex claims one.

now i have one child from a previous marriage and it was set up that i get to claim him even years and he claims him odd years. However, we get along very well (the ex and myself) so we always figure our taxes and see who would benefit more from claiming the child and we always split the difference of the "extra" that the parent got if it wasnt mine/his year to file. That is our curtesy to each other for forfetting the right to claim the child any given year. Of course you have to trust your ex in this situation and luckily - mine is a decent fellow.
 
L

littlenicegal

Guest
actually this is something i know about.lol


the parent that has the child more than 50% of the time, gets to claim the child, unless the two parents agreed on different arrangements.
 
L

Lil Miss Smarty Panties

Guest
according to the irs rules, the custodial parent claims the child unless it is in a court order to split or rotate yearly. different rules apply to parents who were never married. for a child who was born out of wedlock, the parent who contributes over half of the childs support gets the deduction. read irs publication 501
 

CMSC

Senior Member
Lil Miss Smarty Panties said:
according to the irs rules, the custodial parent claims the child unless it is in a court order to split or rotate yearly. different rules apply to parents who were never married. for a child who was born out of wedlock, the parent who contributes over half of the childs support gets the deduction. read irs publication 501
so your saying that if I don't go back to work next year my ex gets to claim the kids! yeah right, don't tell him that!:( I let my husband claim them on our joint return since he pays for everything!
 
L

Lil Miss Smarty Panties

Guest
Read that again sweety. you get the deduction, not the ex. If you're saying you were not married to him you'd still get it. he doesn't pay his support. My husband claims my son also because he lives with us and I don't work. My ex doesn't pay support either.
 

CMSC

Senior Member
Well I read it right but maybe interpreted it wrong? If I don't work and he pays all child support for the year wouldn't he be considered to be the one supporting the children? I don't really have to worry about it because he will never attempt to claim them as far as I know!
 
L

Lil Miss Smarty Panties

Guest
If YOU are the custodial parent AND you were married, the deduction is yours unless you agree to ALLOW him to claim them or agree to rotate years or whatever. I suppose a judge could change that if he wanted to but most likely he'd rotate years if not give you the deduction every year.

If you were NOT married to him ever, and had the children out of wedlock, and you are not working, and he DID pay his support faithfully, then yes, he would have the right to claim them as his dependents. The rule in this case says if dad provides more than 50% of his childrens total support they would be his deduction.

I've done a lot of research on this b/c hubby was never married to his ex and he pays 72% of his daughters total support and the psycho says he can't have the deduction. she claims because we have a daughter together he already has a deduction. but what she doesn't consider is, he supports 4 people in this household plus pays 72% of their daughters upkeep.


But back to you LOL .....since both of our ex's are deadbeats that never pay their c/s, they have no right to claim our children as dependents. :)
 
G

Grandma B

Guest
Lil Miss Smarty Panties said:
If you were NOT married to him ever, and had the children out of wedlock, and you are not working, and he DID pay his support faithfully, then yes, he would have the right to claim them as his dependents. The rule in this case says if dad provides more than 50% of his childrens total support they would be his deduction.
Not quite. Paying the total amount of ordered support does not necessarily mean that he would be paying more than 50% of their total support. In this particular case, I'm sure it doesn't because his ordered support payment is minimal. If she and hubby contribute more toward the children's support than him, the deductions belong to them, whether she is working or not.
 
S

sissygirl

Guest
read the court order carefully....it will usually address matters of physical custody and legal custody. even if the split is 50/50, it should spell out who maintains primary custodial status. if it does, that who gets the deduction, and the irs will see it that way too.
 

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