claiming the kids

[summerdawn]

What is the name of your state? California

I am a single mom of 3 children ages 6, 5, and 3. Their father has no rights to them as of yet, no formal custody or visitation. He often goes for weeks and months without seeing them. He owes almost 2000 dollars in back child support and currently is not employed and is racking up even more in arrearages. He has been claiming my children every year for several years. He gets the child tax credit and the EIC. This year he got married in August and filed jointly with his new wife. They claimed my girls as usual, and got a much larger return than they otherwise would have. The IRS intercepted about 1800 dollars of this for child support. I got a notice in the mail today from the child support agency stating that they have put a 6 month hold on this interception payment. This 6 month hold is a grace period giving his new wife time to file to get any taxes she may have missed out on due to his child support obligation. I KNOW she didn't miss out on any taxes, because they used my children to get a bigger return-even though she has only met my children a total of a dozen times, and he has probably seen them maybe 30 times in 2007.

Do I have any recourse? Do I just patiently wait 6 months for possibly the only child support I will be getting from him in the near future because he is now unemployed?

I am seriously thinking about reporting them for fraud. I never consented to them claiming my children, and my children didn't even benefit from a law that was creating FOR them. (Child tax credit.) Would this be considered fraud on their part?

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

If there are no court orders saying that the father has the right to claim the children, and you haven't signed an 8332, then YOU have the right to claim the children.

Since it appears that the father has probably electronically filed, then you need to file a paper return. What will happen at this point is that you will receive a return in 4-6 weeks. Then the IRS will send documentation to both parties to see who actually has the right to claim the children. This will include showing anything that has their address: doctor's, daycare, school records, etc.

The person who received the refund inproperly will have to repay the IRS. That should stop your X's antics.

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Only the custodial parent has the right to claim EIC and Child and Dependent Care credits.

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by Ginny J

Only the custodial parent has the right to claim EIC and Child and Dependent Care credits.

Which means that if you amend your returns for the past couple of years, to claim the children if you have the right to do so, then he will definitely get caught for incorrectly claiming EIC, and he WILL have to pay back that portion to the IRS, no matter what.

If your court orders don't give him the right to claim your children, by all means amend your returns for the years in question and claim your kids. (The right to a refund for 2004 will expire on April 15th, so get on it quickly if you are going to do it). You will have to eventually prove to the IRS that you not only have primary custody, but that the children actual live with you primarily, but that should be fairly easy for you to do.

[summerdawn]

Thank you very much!