Post Divorce Tax Deductions

[nicki]

Hello, I am a step-mother of two children in Ky.My husband and his X have been divorced for almost 6 years now. They have joint custody, with the mother being the "residental parent." My husband is one of the "Good Guys" that always gets reamed in the court system. He always pays his support, on time, and has regular visitation with his kids. My husband is fortunate enough to have a decent paying job. No frills, just enough to pay rent and have food on the table. He pays over $10,000 a year child support and on top of that he pays daycare weekly, and 75% of all out of pocket expenses. The mother wants MORE. The one thing that we do have, is the judgement for the tax deductions. He has had this for 6 years. The X has made a motion for both children as tax deductions, and the hearing is soon. Some advice we have been given is, "Each parent should have one, since there are 2 children, and other advice is, "Well, since her income is slightly lower than his, (Not if you add the $10,000 a year he pays her, that she dosen't even have to claim) The tax deductions will be more of a benefit to her than to my husband, so therefore she should claim them. My argument is, NO WAY!!!! We pay out all that money, and we should have the right to the deductions. We are not unreasonable, But he is the one paying out over $10,000 plus daycare and 75% of all expenses! What can we use for a good defense? We have been told IRS tax law is that if you pay over 50% of the combined support, then the deductions are yours. But we have also been told that Ky state law can over-ride IRS tax law. Isin't enough ever ENOUGH? Any constructive advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

 

[loku]

Child support

The IRS rule is that the custodial parent is entitled to the deduction for the dependent child unless there is an agreement between the parents or a court decree giving the deduction to the other parent. Since you had the decree in the past, you were entitled to the deduction.

For the same reason, to keep the deduction, you must get the court to decree in your favor. I would say, your best argument is that you do provide more than half the support, even considering the value the other parent provides.

 

[wowie]

Another point that you could make to the X out of court is that if the children do live with her and she pays more than 50% of their necessities then she can claim head of household instead of just single. Then it really is a win-win situation. You get the deductions and she get a smaller but similar expemtption.