Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia

My ex and I divorce 16 years ago and had joint custody we devided time and we took turns claiming our daughter on out taxes every other year I would claim her. My ex became a meth addict and disappeared from his daughters life for a couple years and we had multiple court cases and in the end he was told he could have no contact with our daughter and I was granted sole legal and physical custody of our daughter. My daughter is 18 years old now and going to college and through a discussion with my ex he told me he had been claiming out daughter on his taxes every other year. Can he legally claim our daughter on his taxes after sole custody legal and physical was awarded to me and for years he provided no support at all for his child not until he was incarcerated for non payment of child support and even after he was released from jail he continued to refuse to pay court ordered support. He has for the past five years paid the child support but he never discussed wanting to claim our daughter in his taxes and I had no idea he was doing so.


Asked on 5/14/15, 6:59 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Tahira Piraino Tahira P. Piraino

It appears from this post that the issue of claiming your daughter on your taxes was not part of the divorce agreement and this arrangement was just an agreement between the two of you. If that is correct, the primary physical custodial parent has the right to claim a child. Your ex obviously did not file before you because if he had, the IRS would have contacted you to let you know someone had already used her social security number. If you are contacted, you provide verification to the IRS that your daughter resided with you and attended school in your district. Your ex is the one who would have the issue on his taxes.

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Answered on 5/16/15, 8:19 am


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