CPO/divorce and dependency exemptions

What is the name of your state? Ohio
Me and dh had 2 children before we were married,had domestic violence situations etc and got back together and married 2.5yrs later. Same old same old and now there is another child that was born within our marriage.
I currently have a ex parte CPO against him and we had our hearing today. It was not settled but his lawyer confronted me afterwards....

Also we had one vehicle ..van.. and 4 children total (one is mine only). We have been waiting on our income tax return to come so he could get a vehicle and we could both part. The agreement was that I would sign over the fed ($3458) and state ($315) checks (filed jointly) for him to purchase a vehicle while he was putting our van (bought with our previous jnt return) into my name. The CPO grants me the use of the van and him to return the keys. He left early feb and left the van with me. After knowing the sheriff was looking for him he had his mother take our van and they are hiding it while he was then found to be served and is in violation. He claimed to not have the keys or know where they are and also the van. He has not returned the van or the keys. Law enforcement will not do anything about it.
His lawyer talked with me saying they are going to be getting divorce papers filed this week and he was trying to talk me into agreeing on a dissolution.

He asked me what I wanted and took it away to my DH and came back. It was basic stuff that we had already discussed and agreed upon together. So DH sent him back saying that he agreed except for the dependency exemptions.
This guy has been in jail and prison so many times, did not give me even $1 for 2.5yrs we were seperated before. Owed so much child support he was facing prison and wanted to do right with me and that also involved me making the acct -0-. After that he laughed at me..

He is telling his lawyer he wants rights to claim all 3 of our children for tax purposes. We agreed before then that maybe he would claim one only if he was current in support for that year. He had agreed. Now he wants to claim all 3 and has only supported them for 6 weeks or less this year. He walked out a month ago and says to fight him for support and laughed. I told his lawyer I would not agree to that for the fact that he never paid CS before and had not been and if I do ever get any half of the year would be over or more. DH Lawyer was snotty and said the court may grant him rights to claim all 3 and then you loose it all anyways. I am in the process of hooking up with legal aid but really would like to know what the tax laws are regarding this.

About us.. young family. I am 25 he is 24.. He made $24,000 last year and is claiming he got laid off this week. I have been a sahm for 2 years and am waiting on getting the van so I can obtain employment and have been accepted to a college to better myself. 4 children 3 are his. ANY help or information would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not an attorney. Just a single mom who has just gone through what you are going through.

The IRS rules are clear on this. If you have custody, you get the exemptions. End of discussion. They can't take that from you. You do not have to agree to give them to him no matter what kind of pressure they put on you. You have no idea what kind of income you will have in the future and regardless of that, you are the one there with the kids everyday, taking care of all the expenses, on call 24/7 to do whatever needs to be done. You are entitled to the deductions my advice is to stand firm on it.

My ex tried this with me too. He didn't want the kids just the deductions. I held firm and they finally had to give up. In fact my ex TOOK the deductions illegally the past two years and now he's being investigated for fraud. He'll have to pay back the money he got plus penalties and interest. Even if you agree to share the deductions, based on meeting any certain criteria, you are just setting yourself up to have to deal with someone you obviously cannot communicate with every year at tax time - it isn't worth the hassle, especially because you and the kids do not stand to benefit from allowing him to take any part of the deductions.

The IRS requires you to sign a form allowing him to take the exemptions, he can't just do it. My judge wouldn't even listen to their request. They tried to get creative and get me to agree to let him take the deductions if it would increase his refund and that he'd give me whatever my refund would have been if I'd have taken the deductions....well, why in the hell would I want to do that! It wouldn't net me one cent more and I'd have to go through coordinating our taxes together each year. Right. We can't communicate about jack (I have a permanent protective order against him!).

Besides all that, the tax breaks for head of household with children are set up so that more money is kept in the household where the children reside. My kids (and yours) would never see one cent of whatever extra he would realize from the deductions.

If he had offered to put whatever extra money would be realized into a trust for the kids education I might have agreed, otherwise, I told them to bite me.

Do you have an attorney...if not, you need one. Dont' get bullied into agreeing to what he wants. Hope that helps. Seek legal assistance on this divorce.