My wife and I are not together anymore and we have two kids that stay with her 4 nights a week and myslf 3 nights. She has not had a job at all for the year of 2008 and she said that she wants to claim the kids. Can she do this with no income??

If she has had no income at all then she cannot claim them. I'm assuming you are the children's financial provider. If so you should be able to claim them yourself as dependants.

My wife and I are not together anymore and we have two kids that stay with her 4 nights a week and myslf 3 nights. She has not had a job at all for the year of 2008 and she said that she wants to claim the kids. Can she do this with no income??????????



What does your Separation Agreement say? Income or no income - and there are several threads going on about this - if the Agreement/Divorce says she claims them, she claims them unless the Court Order is changed whether it is or is not beneficial to her.

If this is just a question of no agreement, then it is by IRS guidelines.

This thread contains another thread: https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/taxes/can-husband-claim-children-305476.html

Only the custodial parent can claim the child. Child support does not count.
Yes, if your ex has no income, then she will not get any benefit by claiming the child.

You can claim only when the custodial parent signs a release.
Read: Your U.S. Tax Return: Child of separated or divorced parents (http://taxipay.blogspot.com/2008/03/child-of-separated-or-divorced-parents.html)

You have to fall back to the child custody and/or parenting plan filed with the court.

The parent that has primary physcial custody always gets to claim unless the child custody agreement addresses the issue

All of the above information is good, but the bottom line here is to determine how to best use your children's dependency exemptions.

This requires cooperation between the ex-spouses!

So get together and work out a deal that is mutually beneficial to BOTH of you AND your children!

If you both agree on a deal, then you both can file and claim the children however you want to.