Child Custody Article
Federal and State Tax Exemptions for Dependent Children: Who gets to claim them?
The Guidelines provide two options. The first is an agreement between the parents. Usually, this will happen when the parents come to an amicable settlement on all issues. If the parents are already struggling to compromise on other issues, do not be surprised if the opposing party will not agree to your tax dependency proposal. However, it is a possibility for an agreement to be reached. If the agreement is reached, the parents can make any plan for the tax dependency exemption. There are no requirements.
If the parties cannot agree, then the Guidelines provide a formula for determining who will claim and when they will claim. The formula is based on each parent’s proportion to the parties combined adjusted gross income. The formula also does not allow for a parent to claim more than four years in a row. Lets look at some examples to understand how the formula works.
Example 1: Dad makes about $60,000 annually. Mom makes about $40,000 annually. Their combined gross income is $100,000. Dad’s share of the income is 60%, which equates to 3/5. Mom’s share of the income is 40%, or 2/5. Thus, Dad will get to claim the minor child every 3 out of 5 years, and Mom will get to claim the child every 2 out of 5 years.
Example 2: Pretend that in the above example, the parties only have 1 child. Say they have three children now. The parents could continue the pattern as discussed above for all three children. Now if Dad’s income was 33% of the total income or 1/3 and Mom’s income was 67% or 2/3 and they have three children, they could do a similar pattern, or Dad will always claim two children, and Mom will always claim one child. There is some flexibility here.
There are a number of other examples that can come from this formula. Just remember, it depends on the proportion of the parties combined adjusted gross income. Another piece of advice is that the child support worksheets will give you a recommendation as well. So if you are not good at doing math, just take a look at the child support calculator and see what that recommendation is.
Overall, the tax dependency exemption should not be complicated nor cause conflict between the parties. This is why there are guidelines in place to settle those conflicts. However, I do recommend that if you and the other parent are capable of coming to an agreement on your own terms, it will usually be better for you both, and you will feel better about the results.
Contributing Attorney: Billie Tarascio litigates family law and domestic violence cases at Modern Law.
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QUESTIONS
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Court ordered 50/50 custody - no relatives for either parent residing in State - in case of emergency e.g. motor vehicle accident involving child and parent how is other parent located? email:[email protected]
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I am the father of a 5 year old and the mom wants me to keep my child. I do not know for how long. I want to make sure I go into this the right way. Are there any forms or legal documents I should be filing out? Please help!
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My wife told told she was going to vacation for 2 weeks to new mexico just got a text that wants a divorce and want to come with my 2 daughters she saying is staying what can i do
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Post Decree Modificiation for Legal Decision Making and Parenting time: The court vactated a BIA attorney hearing due to a report not being available and moved to dismiss the entire Petiton and place the case on the inactive calander. Opposing party requesting trial with no new evidence? Can I object? Or request a evidentiary hearing as we just had trial Oct 2017 (10 months ago).
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I am legally divorced, I was a stay at home mom. I have just started working pt, but do not have enough money to get a lawyer. Will his income be counted as mine, even though I have no access to it. I'm wondering if I qualify for free legal assistance. We are not agreeing on custody.
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I have joint custody and am needing to file a petition to prevent relocation. The court gave me a blank title page packet. What do I need to include in this petition?
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I no longer live in AZ but a legal office where I live said AZ still has jurisdiction on the case. I share joint legal custody with my sons father. We do not reside in the same state but he says I need a lawyer to move. There is approximately 6-7 hours driving time between our current residences and when I move it will be that long of a flight time. Can he prevent me from moving? I gave him verbal notice and followed up with an email of when we plan to leave so he is fully aware of the relocation.
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Can I assume custody of my two little brothers if I am in the military and if so how do I go about do it?
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What age does a child have to be in order to deny a parents right to see them who has custody only on the weekend
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I am not married to my daughters father, we recently split due to domestic violence. I am talking with him and his lawyer to get a resolution before our temporary orders hearing. The only term we are not agreeing on is that I want to stipulate that my daughter and I can relocate to Colorado in a year. His attorney keeps saying the courts will not accept that even if we come to an agreement on everything else before our court date. I spoke to an attorney who told me the opposite. How do I word this to his attorney or is his attorney right?
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