Q: I pay child support monthly no back arrearage, and I have no parental rights can I write it off as a charitable donatin
I have paid Child Support for about 4 years now. I have no access to my child as i was backed in to a corner to give up rights. I still pay Child Support! can I start writing the donations off as a tax deduction or what can I do about that its starting to feel like I am giving a charitable donation monthly to a child I will never know I have had no contact with said child or mother or anything. but it still gets taken from my Disability checks monthly and the money is spent. besides stopping it what can I gain from this besides a fathers good conscience? can i write it off as a donation? its $120.00 a month for the past 4 years its about $5.000.00 give about 3 or 4 hundred dollars.
A: You cannot right it off as a charitable donation, because it is a court ordered obligation, not something you elect to pay. However, you can include it into your taxes as part of your expenses. It is not possible to actually give up rights to your child without someone else taking your place; i.e. a step-parent adoption, or the state taking custody. Therefore you do still have rights to your child, even if they are severely limited at the moment. If you would like to re-establish contact with your child, talk to a family attorney local to you about the circumstances that lead to the limited contact, and the best way to go about getting a modification of the current decree.
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