Tax Exemptions?

[mommytotwobabie]

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

I have a question and my lawyer is really lazy and doesn't help at all.
On my divorce papers it says I shall claim both children every year, then below that it also says the father may claim the exemptions for the children every year as long as the child support payments are current.

What does this mean?

 

[mistoffolees]

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

I have a question and my lawyer is really lazy and doesn't help at all.
On my divorce papers it says I shall claim both children every year, then below that it also says the father may claim the exemptions for the children every year as long as the child support payments are current.

What does this mean?

It means that either you're paraphrasing incorrectly or that whoever drafted the agreement messed up.

Tell us exactly what it says - word for word, but without the names.

 

[Bali Hai]

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

I have a question and my lawyer is really lazy and doesn't help at all.
On my divorce papers it says I shall claim both children every year, then below that it also says the father may claim the exemptions for the children every year as long as the child support payments are current.

What does this mean?

It means that whoever wrote the decree was incompetent and the judge didn't read it before signing.

 

[mommytotwobabie]

Word for word (sorry for any typos.. 2 yr old ripped off all but 9 of my keys)

It says

The mother is the parent receiving child support.
The Mother shall claim the following children: Both children every year

The father may claim the exemptions for the child or children so long as the support payments are current by the claiming parent on Jan 15 of the year when the return is due. The exemptions may be claimed every year.

The mother and father will furnish IRS Form 8332 to the parent entitled to the exemption by Feb 15 of the year when the tax return is due.

 

[mistoffolees]

Word for word (sorry for any typos.. 2 yr old ripped off all but 9 of my keys)

It says

The mother is the parent receiving child support.
The Mother shall claim the following children: Both children every year

The father may claim the exemptions for the child or children so long as the support payments are current by the claiming parent on Jan 15 of the year when the return is due. The exemptions may be claimed every year.

The mother and father will furnish IRS Form 8332 to the parent entitled to the exemption by Feb 15 of the year when the tax return is due.

Whoever wrote that is incompetent.

You really have 2 choices:

1. Go back to court for a clarification since it's not 100% clear.

2. Go with the obvious intent. It appears that the intent was that Mom would have the exemption by default, but if Dad was current on CS as of Jan 15, that he would get the deduction, overriding the default.

If it were me, I'd go with #2.

 

[stealth2]

Whoever wrote that is incompetent.

You really have 2 choices:

1. Go back to court for a clarification since it's not 100% clear.

2. Go with the obvious intent. It appears that the intent was that Mom would have the exemption by default, but if Dad was current on CS as of Jan 15, that he would get the deduction, overriding the default.

If it were me, I'd go with #2.

Ditto that.

 

[LdiJ]

I don't think that the intent is that obvious. Since the norm is that the parents share the exemptions either every other year, or they each claim one child if there are multiple children, I would either come up with an agreement with dad to split the exemptions, and submit it to the court, or take it back to court.

Again, I really do not think that the intent is obvious at all.

I would also add that the wording regarding form 8332 needs to be changed as well. Only the custodial parent should ever give a form 8332 to the non-custodial parent. The IRS's definition of custodial parent is the parent with whom the children have the most number of overnights annually.