My husband pays child support, mother does not work, if she does its only to make enough to be able to claim earned income credit, there's never been a court order established saying who gets to claim kids, can my husband claim kids without having to have their mother sign papers? She refuses to sign allowing him to claim them even though she does not work and he pays his CS

Is he paying enough money to pay the rent, to buy all of the food, to pay the electric and to pay the gas, to pay for her car.

If so that is a lot of money being spent for child support.

So who is supporting the mother and baby to pay all of those bills.

He needs to get this cleared up in court. He will need to be ready to prove that he provided over 1/2 of the child's needs. This includes the child's housig, his food, his clothes, his transportation and more

Only the custodial parent can claim the child. Non-custodial parent can claim only if the custodial parent signs a release. Child support does not count. Read: Your U.S. Tax Return: Child of separated or divorced parents

MukatA does NOT quite have it right this time.

The non-custodial parent CAN claim the child's dependency exemption if the non-custodial parent can prove, to the IRS' satisfaction, that he/she provides more than half of the child's total support.

That may be a tough case to prove, however, which is why it is almost always better to negotiate with the custodial parent on this matter.

Barring sufficient proof by the non-custodial parent on support, the IRS almost always sides with the custodial parent if the custodial parent can show sources if income independent of the non-custodial parent.

He cannot claim them because they live with the mother. Child support is also not tax deductible. You have to have the child for at least six months out of the year in your home to file them on your taxes. If this is not the case and he can't prove that he had them in his home for six months and one day then he will have to pay the money back to the IRS plus penalties and interest. If he does claim them there is a very simple form that she can fill out and probably will to get her money back. He might consider making an agreement with her to claim the kids and give her what she would have received if she filed and he would probably be left with more money anyway.

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Originally Posted by AtlantaTaxExpert

MukatA does NOT quite have it right this time.

The non-custodial parent CAN claim the child's dependency exemption if the non-custodial parent can prove, to the IRS' satisfaction, that he/she provides more than half of the child's total support.

That may be a tough case to prove, however, which is why it is almost always better to negotiate with the custodial parent on this matter.

Barring sufficient proof by the non-custodial parent on support, the IRS almost always sides with the custodial parent if the custodial parent can show sources if income independent of the non-custodial parent.

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This has recently been discussed in another thread and I believe AtlantaTaxExpert had the final, definitive word. IRS goes by the Separation/Divorce (Support) Order and will NOT rule against a State's Order. I have researched this for law firms and IRS does not want to be the cause of a divorce or separation being taken back into Court because one party gave up considerations in order to claim the exemption and now IRS takes the exemption away.

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