I was divorced in 1998 in Connecticut. The divorce decree stipulated that I claim my son and my ex-wife (custodial parent) claim my daughter on our taxes. The conditional statement was added "...provided Husband has made all child support payments as ordered by the court for the tax year in question" and we would exchange forms 8332 to accomplish the allocation for tax purposes.
In 2004 I fell behind on my child support due to going on disability. I met with child support services, an agreement was made in court to pay by garnishment the amount currently due for support going forward and an additional payment to go to the arrearage. I thought this put me in good standing and I never missed any payments from then through the present.
Recently a judge gave all of the tax deductions for my son to my ex-wife for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 not because I didn't make the "current" support payments (I did) but because there was still an arrearage existing from 2004 for those years. Is this interpretation correct? This baffled me because the current year tax deduction contingency was "provided Husband has made all child support payments as ordered by the court for the tax year in question". This decision results in the loss of several thousand dollars in tax deductions - my loss her gain- plus I have repaid the original $4500. It seems strange to me that the arrearage from 2004 for which monthly payments were being made would cause me to lose future years of the tax deduction for my son on my taxes. If this is correct or incorrect can anyone direct me to CT statutes that cover this? I believe my only recourse at this point would be an appeal since this was the result of (her) motion to reargue.
The day this decision was reached court was chaotic, the judge was imposing time limitations and she reached her decision quickly - made me feel there had to be precedence or was this just a subjective decision. Should I go forward with an appeal?
In 2004 I fell behind on my child support due to going on disability. I met with child support services, an agreement was made in court to pay by garnishment the amount currently due for support going forward and an additional payment to go to the arrearage. I thought this put me in good standing and I never missed any payments from then through the present.
Recently a judge gave all of the tax deductions for my son to my ex-wife for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 not because I didn't make the "current" support payments (I did) but because there was still an arrearage existing from 2004 for those years. Is this interpretation correct? This baffled me because the current year tax deduction contingency was "provided Husband has made all child support payments as ordered by the court for the tax year in question". This decision results in the loss of several thousand dollars in tax deductions - my loss her gain- plus I have repaid the original $4500. It seems strange to me that the arrearage from 2004 for which monthly payments were being made would cause me to lose future years of the tax deduction for my son on my taxes. If this is correct or incorrect can anyone direct me to CT statutes that cover this? I believe my only recourse at this point would be an appeal since this was the result of (her) motion to reargue.
The day this decision was reached court was chaotic, the judge was imposing time limitations and she reached her decision quickly - made me feel there had to be precedence or was this just a subjective decision. Should I go forward with an appeal?