Dependent question

[greep296]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

I have been married for just over a year.
My wife has a 6 year old daughter and they both live here full time.
The father has the child every other weekend.
My wife and the father have a signed agreement where they alternate the years where they claim her.
This agreement was entered into 6 years ago.
Other things in this agreement include paying for half of all child/health care and a very specific schedule as to where he was to have the child at least two days a week.
At this point the only thing he has elected to follow is the ability to claim her as a dependent every other year.
When presented with bills his response is 'sorry'.
Could this contract be considered nullified once he refused to help with the bills?
Am I required to follow this agreement since I am the head of household and have no such agreement with the father?
Certainly by definition he is not eligible to claim her as a dependent.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

I have been married for just over a year.
My wife has a 6 year old daughter and they both live here full time.
The father has the child every other weekend.
My wife and the father have a signed agreement where they alternate the years where they claim her.
This agreement was entered into 6 years ago.
Other things in this agreement include paying for half of all child/health care and a very specific schedule as to where he was to have the child at least two days a week.
At this point the only thing he has elected to follow is the ability to claim her as a dependent every other year.
When presented with bills his response is 'sorry'.
Could this contract be considered nullified once he refused to help with the bills?

Depends. Is the ability to claim the child contingent upon ALL of the conditions being met?

Am I required to follow this agreement since I am the head of household and have no such agreement with the father?

Yes. You are. Your WIFE made the agreement...if she is filing taxes with you, her agreement with the ex by far trumps your HOH in terms of who can claim the child.

Certainly by definition he is not eligible to claim her as a dependent.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve

Again it depends on how the order was written.

 

[Proserpina]

(this IS a court order, right?)

 

[fairisfair]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

I have been married for just over a year.
My wife has a 6 year old daughter and they both live here full time.
The father has the child every other weekend.
My wife and the father have a signed agreement where they alternate the years where they claim her.
This agreement was entered into 6 years ago.
Other things in this agreement include paying for half of all child/health care and a very specific schedule as to where he was to have the child at least two days a week.
At this point the only thing he has elected to follow is the ability to claim her as a dependent every other year.
When presented with bills his response is 'sorry'.
Could this contract be considered nullified once he refused to help with the bills?
Am I required to follow this agreement since I am the head of household and have no such agreement with the father?
Certainly by definition he is not eligible to claim her as a dependent.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve

One part of the order not being followed does not necessary nullify the other parts, unless it is so written .

She needs to petition to enforce his payment of the mandated expenses.

No court is going to force a non custodial parent to see the child. However, child support may or may not be adjusted based on parenting time.

She can also file a petition to modify the order to allow her to claim the child exclusively.

We are of course assuming that what you are calling a "written agreement" is in fact a court order. Because if it isn't, it doesn't really mean anything.

 

[greep296]

checking....

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

If the wife elected to have FOC enforce the court order, then your WIFE could request enforcement for the medical portion of the court order. There are specific steps that can be used. they can enforce the court order if:

1. Wife presented bill to NCP in a timely fashion.
2. NCP has not paid said bill.

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILING DEMAND FOR MEDICAL PAYMENT
The Friend of the Court will enforce uninsured medical bills only once every six months and on bills that are one
year old or less. The Friend of the Court will only enforce on health care costs incurred or billed after the date of
the last enforcement.
The FOC will make every effort to see that each parent pays his or her allocated share of these expenses.
However, the FOC considers the requesting parent responsible for payment to the health care provider of all
uninsured medical expenses. It is recommended that the parent make payment arrangements with the provider
to prevent any unpaid accounts from going to collection.
Before submitting the Demand for Medical Payment to our office, you must do the following:
1. Use all health care insurance available to you to the fullest extent possible.
2. Please send copies of the uninsured health care expenses to the other parent within 30 days of the receipt
of the bills. The other parent may need original bills to file an insurance claim.
3. Read your court orders to determine the responsibility of each parent for payment of uninsured
health care expenses.
After you have completed steps 1-3 and the other parent has not paid or made suitable arrangements to pay,
complete the Demand for Medical Payment. If additional space is needed, you can copy the form or additional
forms can be requested by calling the Telephone Accessed Computer (TAC) line at 517-676-5885 or download
the form from this website. Submit the Demand with two (2) copies of each bill/statement, receipts and orthodontic
contract. If your child is covered by insurance, you must submit a copy of the explanation of benefits showing what
was reimbursed or rejected.
4. All bills must include the following information:
a) the name of the child receiving service
b) the name of the provider of services
c) the actual date (not the billing date) the service was provided
d) the nature of service
e) the cost of the service
f) explanation of benefits from the insurance providers showing what was paid or rejected
g) receipts of payments to the provider and doctors’ statements
5. If the Demand for Medical Payment is not correctly filled out and corresponding bills, receipts or
explanations of insurance benefits are not sent to FOC, it will be returned for corrections.
6. Mail your completed Demand to:
FRIEND OF THE COURT
P.O. BOX 40097
LANSING, MI 48901-7297
7. Upon receipt and review of the Demand for Medical Payment, it will be sent to the opposite party
requesting payment. If he or she fails to respond within 21 days, a separate medical account will be set
up for collection of these expense. If a hearing is scheduled, you must attend all conferences and
hearings. If you fail to attend, your request for enforcement will be dismissed.

http://www.ingham.org/FC/medicaldemandweb.pdf

Now, I have sent written demand of enforcement to the FOC of my county.

 

[LdiJ]

I would also like to point out that the OP is NOT "Head of Household" for tax purposes...He is married therefore he cannot be "Head of Household".

He can be married filing separately or married filing jointly. It doesn't matter if his wife doesn't work, its still "married filing jointly".

Lots of people don't "get" that.

Nevertheless, his wife's child cannot be included on their joint tax return in defiance of the court orders. The IRS would allow it, and would disallow dad, but the state court would slam mom for it.

If dad is not pulling his weight, then mom needs to file for contempt and/or file for a modification to take the tax exemption away from dad.