Q: I have joint custody and 50/50 time of my son. My ex claimed him on taxes when it was my turn. What can I do?
We had a verbal agreement that we would trade every other year to claim him, but now she decided to claim him before I could. What can I do if anything to get this reversed?
A:
You can do nothing or you can claim your child as a dependent for tax purposes. If you claim him as a dependent, the IRS will audit you and your former spouse. You will need to prove to the IRS that your child resided with you at least 50% of the year and that you paid more than 50% of his expenses for the tax year.
You could also ask the divorce court to award the tax dependency exemption to you in alternate years, which the court will probably do after conducting a hearing.
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