Legal Question in Family Law in Iowa

Claiming child as an exemption

My ex-husband was to claim our daughter for the 2003 year. He still owes me $678 for his share of unreimbursed medical bills for the 2003. They were presented to him and his attorney several times. To no avail. I claimed her on my tax return since he is in arrears to the court-ordered medical bills provisons. Now he is ready to file his return and has found out I claimed her. His attorney says unpaid medical bills money owed to me doesn't count. What should I do? I am sure I read somewhere and now I cannot find it that in order to claim the child, they have to be current in child support and all other court-ordered obligations. Could someone help me out?


Asked on 3/10/04, 9:39 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Luedeman solo practitioner

Re: Claiming child as an exemption

Know first that I am not a tax specialist. If you are the custodial parent, generally speaking, you get the deduction.

If you released the exemption using the IRS form provided you were probably not entitled to claim the exemption despite whether he has paid your unreimbursed expenses or not.

Your recourse there would have been to bring him to court to enforce the dissolution agreement.

It sounds like you administered some street justice here.

I would suggest you view the following page and use the links therein. It should prove helpful. Further, you may need the services of a tax professional to understand your rights in the event of an IRS audit, which may or may not result from these facts.

http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq-kw33.html

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Answered on 3/10/04, 11:29 am


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