My ex claims she did not work. She was attending school full-time. I paid alimony, child support, medical insurance, child care for the child who was not school aged, I have medical bills. What counts toward the 50+%?? She will not sign a release out of spite. I have even offered half the return. Help!?

You need to have the court ordered custody agreement specify on who gets to claim them which year, every other is very common.

Attorny is your legal expence not any support for the child.

Child support is not tax deductable and is what you are court ordered to pay toward the support Also normally the child's health insurance is part of the court order, so with that you are only fulfilling your legal obigation, as with child care also.

So who was paying the rent, paying the food, paying the electric bill and so on, most likely that person is the one who paid the majority of the bills.

Mkosbab:

It appears that your ex is not being reasonable, so your only alternative is to claim your child, then present your case to the IRS if and when they challenge the dependency exemption.

If you can show that you provided more than half of the child's total support (which includes the child support, medical costs for the child, and the child care costs, in addition to the housing and food), you should have little problem proving your case.

Further, if your ex-spouse has NO income herself, she may not even bother filing a return. If not, then there is no competing return with your child's dependency exemption to begin with, and you are home free!