Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

Re: Filing a child on taxes

Your husband should be claiming a tax deduction only for a child which has been in his care and custody for the required period of time as specified in the IRS Code. If he has had such a child under his care and custody, he should be claiming the child irrespective of what his agreement may have been with the mother. If the mother has been improperly claiming a deduction on her taxes for a child who has not been in her care and custody for the required time period, the IRS should be notified of this in order to take appropriate action to remedy this situation, and your husband should make inquiry as to whether he may be

eligible for a retroactive credit for these deductions to which he may have been entitled.

Re: Filing a child on taxes

Further elaboration on and response to this question: This is apparently a shared custody situation(according to the person who posed the question)in which each parent has custody and care of two children for six months of each year. If such is the case, each parent should then be claiming one half of the whole dependent deduction on his or her taxes.(The entire deduction would be for the two children, whereas half would, obviously, be only for one.) This arrangement eliminates the need for special agreements between the parents

regarding who will file first or deduct what and when and the spats which inevitably seem to ensue as well as other underhanded behaviours which quite often spring from this issue. And, best of all, it is an approach which is factually related to the parents' actual care and custody of the dependent children and therefore can withstand any scrutiny from the IRS or anyone else who may be inclined to question its validity.