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How do courts determine how gets to claim the child first for taxes?

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mphillips3641

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Wisconsin

i told my ex it should be fair to allow me to claim first since he is living in the house and get to claim that. he doesnt agree to that, and than i told him i should also get it first because i have her more than he does. we have agreed to settle on 60% / 40% shared custody
 


Gracie3787

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Wisconsin

i told my ex it should be fair to allow me to claim first since he is living in the house and get to claim that. he doesnt agree to that, and than i told him i should also get it first because i have her more than he does. we have agreed to settle on 60% / 40% shared custody
Do you have a court order?
If so, what does it state regarding the deduction?
 

mphillips3641

Junior Member
no. we havent even gone to mediation yet.
we were supposed to go this week to settle with his attorney, and avoid mediation however when he saw i wanted to claim her first in taxes he cancelled the settlement and now wants to go to court.
i told him hes just being difficult however im just curious if im right, or how it normally works.
 

Gracie3787

Senior Member
no. we havent even gone to mediation yet.
we were supposed to go this week to settle with his attorney, and avoid mediation however when he saw i wanted to claim her first in taxes he cancelled the settlement and now wants to go to court.
i told him hes just being difficult however im just curious if im right, or how it normally works.
The Judge will decide based on things like who is the residential parent, incomes, etc. There really isn't any set rule for this type of thing, it's totally in the Judge's descretion.
 
The Judge will decide based on things like who is the residential parent, incomes, etc. There really isn't any set rule for this type of thing, it's totally in the Judge's descretion.
Yup. My husband's case is in Wisconsin, and the judge decided that my husband gets to claim his daughter every year. He says he has no idea how that happened since he didn't even ask for it, was NCP at the time, and had the greater income. :confused:
 

haiku

Senior Member
ok we do have someone here who is very knowledgeable but until they see this....

The IRS rules are pretty clear on this so head over to thier website.

Now even so, once there is a court order in place, a custodial parent must abide by that ruling. if the jusge says you must sign form 8332, you sign it.

It is very common in family court to give an NCP the deduction, usually every other year or by splitting children, if there is more than one child. And sometimes like the case of my husband they are given it,in consideration for others things in the divorce settlement.

NCPs are also given it as an incentive to be current on child support (it is important when signing an agreement that the wording is specific that an NCP must be current the year he is entitled by court order to have the deduction.)

Also let me point out, a deduction is only useful on a tax return if you make at least 20,000. If you do not make at least that a deduction is worthless to your return, therefore in cases where a CP makes less than 20,000 a year it is financially a better decision to give the deduction to the NCP if they make more, until the CP gets a higher income .

A CP will still be able to use the child for head of household and EIC purposes, and still get an excellent return.
 

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