children tax deduction

[mitzi32]

thank you!

[abezon]

Yes. Go to court and say, "Your Honor. he knew what his income would be like in 4 years, but still wanted to claim the kids the first 4 years only. Since he entered into the original agreement fully aware of the consequences & his future income, and this whole complicated scheme was his idea in the first place, I ask the court to deny his motion and leave the dependency exemptions with me for this & future years. He should not be able to have his cake & eat it too."

[mitzi32]

Thank you!

[abezon]

First argument is that he knew exactly what he was doing when he came up with this scheme & shouldn't be allowed to change his mind now. Second argument is that he misrepresented his income & assets to the court & doesn't need a reduction in support. Third argument is that the 'increased cost of living' claim is pure whining. He ran up the CC bills & overmortgaged his house on his own & you shouldn't be damaged (losing the exemptions) from his inability to live within his means. Same argument for the court not lowering his support payments.

If he wants help getting out of debt, let him declare chapter 13 bankruptcy & go on a court-ordered payment plan until he learns to manage money.

Courts tend to want the parent who derives the most advantage out of the deduction as measured in strict dollars to take it and then provide for some compensation to the parent not taking the deduction in return.

In therory, this way the child is better off because there is more total income after taxes for the child's parents together.

If you go this route, get it written in that your compensation increases automatically somehow with his increased benefit from the deduction.