Child Support

Although I am not specifically familiar with tax laws, I can provide some general information on filing for a child as a dependent based on federal tax law. Basically, the right to claim a child as a dependent generally goes to the parent who the child lives with more than 50% of the time. (This is explained here on the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq/0„id=199710,00.html) If a parent wrongly claims the child who does not live with him/her more than 50% of the time, and the parent who does have residential/physical custody also claims the child, then it could be possible that both tax returns may be audited and both parents might both be called in to the IRS and asked to submit proof of who the child lives with. However, sometimes who can claim the child as a dependent is negotiated into a divorce, custody or child support settlement so that one parent can claim the child even if technically s/he couldn’t under the IRS definition mentioned above. (For more information on this, see this link to the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq/0„id=199712,00.html) So, if you have a divorce or custody agreement, you may want to ask an attorney to review it to check to see if it says anything in it about who can claim the child as a dependent and find out whether what is written in the agreement is permissible under federal tax law. Here is a link for lawyers: LINK