I am a divorced father of a 19 year old daughter in college. In my divorce decree it states that I am the parent to claim the minor child and I have done so for the past 14 years. During the past year I contributed over $4,000 of her tuition, her mother has contributed nothing. The issue is that my daughter lived with her mother during the summer for 3 months and she only stayed with me a few weekends. Her mother stated that she plans to claim the child as her dependent and take the college credit. Can I still claim my daughter as a dependent?

The two issues:
1.In divorce decree the wording says father claims minor child and my child is no longer a minor.
2.When looking up dependent child it states the child must live with a parent over 6 months-so her mother does not qualify to claim her as dependent but then the tie breaker for divorced parents says that whoever the child lived with the most during the year gets to claim the child.

The wording in your decree is no longer material because the "child" has reached the age of majority. Now it's up to IRS rules to make the determination. This a Government-sponsored site which has pretty clear info - A ?Qualifying Child? (http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=133298,00.html).

I don't know what the law is BUT I am aware of another similar situation (child in college) and the custodial parent got the exemption BECAUSE that parent provided a permanent address for the child.

Did your daughter work?

It might be worth spending a few dollars and asking a tax expert this same question.

Yes, she did work. She earned $5400 for the year.