What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Hampshire, but I was divorced in Texas. I was divorced in 1998 in the state of Texas(case was closed). I have 2 children and paid full child support until my youngest child was 18 and graduated high school. My children are now 18 and 20. I am paying for their college educations and expenses, medical & dental insurance, auto insurance, cell phones(which was not part of the divorce/child support agreement). My ex-wife filed for income tax return and claimed both children. Is there anything that I can do? ThankyouWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Where do the 18 and 20 year olds live? If they are away at school, where do they go home for the holidays and school breaks? Your children are no longer subject to court orders, therefore it goes strictly by the IRS rules for claiming dependents at this point. If their home of record is with mom, then she is the one who is allowed to claim both the exemption for them, and any education credits.
You can claim medical and dental expenses for them even if they are not your dependents, assuming that you itemize and assuming that you have enough overall medical and dental expenses to exceed 7 1/2 percent of your AGI.
This is one area where I honestly wish that parents could cooperate more. I have a client who is CP, makes too much money for EIC, and has younger children to claim. However, she doesn't make enough money for education credits to be of any use to her, so the exemption for her college aged child is of minimal use to her. I talked her into allowing her ex to claim the college aged child because her ex COULD make use of the education credits, and was supplying the bulk of the education costs.
However, at the same time, I have also seen (in my state, where child support goes to age 21) ncps insisting on claiming the children as per the court order, where the ncp couldn't benefits from college credits, but the CP could.
Ideally parents of college aged children really should cooperate and do what is fair and reasonable.