Re: Need help on Custody

[boomer]

The other night I asked my ex-wife if I could claim my daughter on my taxes.  I tried to be civilized. She said no & that I don't take her for 2 weeks in the summer.  My daughter is going to be 11 years old & my ex-wife refuses to get her potty trained. My wife & I both work & I just started a new job so we would have to take her to a day care & nobody in our area will watch her because they don't want to change diapers on a 11 year old.  And no where in our divorce papers does it state that either parent can claim my daughter on their taxes. In fact it doesn't state anything at all about this.  My daughter is mentally handicapped & my ex-wife does not work. She receives lots of money from the government & my daughter is on public aid due to her health concerns. She has quite a few medical problems & takes lots of medications for her seizures.  My ex-wife just took me back to court to increase child support.  I do pay a substancial amount of money in child support & am not able to claim my daughter on my taxes.   Is there any articles I can read? I know I am not prepared for the legal system. I can't really afford an attorney, but will have to if I need to.  I just want to be prepared when I go back to court.  I also have offered in the past that we get her potty trained so that we can put her in a daycare & switch off every week instead of every other weekend & my ex-wife refused.  

[Indigo Mom]

Color me a dumb blonde bim...but what exactly are you shooting for?

Sounds to me like your daughter has such a severe handicap (and I truly despise that word) that she possibly needs round the clock care.  How would putting her in daycare help?  Is there a facility in your area that can handle her type of "issue" ?  I have a severly handicapped brother.  He'll never progress past the age of 6 emotionally, has autistic "qualities" and will never even so much as live on his own.  He'd forget to eat if he wasn't reminded of it.  He's 26 years old, but wets the bed.  Nothing can be done.  He's now in a special "home" and the woman in "charge" can't get him "trained" at night.  (and she's a professional) Sometimes, you just can't do what you want to do.  Changing diapers at age 11 would suck...but chances are, she may be in diapers forever, whether you like it or not.  

Are you only trying to get the every other week schedule just so you can claim her on taxes?  I'm sorry, but your whole post sort of revolves around your anger because of the tax issue.  

You make an issue of the mother not working.  My mom couldn't work either, because of my little brothers issues.  She only recently got a job because he's now in a special home.  I personally believe, when a child has such serious issues, the child should be with a parent (unless they NEED a special home), because NO ONE is going to take care of your special child like a parent, and yes, your daughter is extremely special.

Stop worrying about simple things like taxes...and start focusing all your energy on this little angel you have.  

[Sarahs_Dad]

Bringing up claiming our daughter on income tax is the straw that broke the camel's back with my ex-fiancee'.  I've worked for a CPA, taken H&R Block's and Jackson Hewitt's tax classes, and worked for Jackson Hewitt.  The IRS rule for divorced and separated parents in determining which parent may claim a child as a dependant and exemption says the parent who has custody or the child lives with the majority of time per year gets to claim the child.   Parents who never married use to not be covered by this rule.  It used to be whoever paid 50% or more support for a child born out of wedlock could claim the child as a dependant, regardless of custody.  Starting tax year 2003, unmarried parents and children born out of wedlock are included in the divorced or separated parents rule.   I saw an article about this in the Article Archive on this site.  There are publications about this on //www.irs.gov  I think it's Publication number 501.  The only other way you could claim your child is if you could get your ex-wife to fill out, sign, give to you, and you attach to your tax return a form titled something like Release To Claim Dependent or Exemption, which is also available from the IRS or a tax service.

[LizaLou1]

He just posted something on this subject.

LizaLou