Claiming children on taxes

[Fields2]

I want to start claiming my children on my taxes. My former husband has custody of them. Do I need to take him to court to do this and do I need to hire an attorney? Any input from someone who has done this?

[Anonymous]

The child dependency exemption cannot be split, and if you both claim the deduction you will likely both be audited.

Under federal tax law, which governs who can claim the deduction, the custodial parent is ordinarily regarded to be the parent who provided more than half of the child's support. That parent is ordinarily allowed to claim the deduction, if the other tests for claiming a dependency exemption are met.

When the noncustodial parent is permitted to take the exemption, the custodial parent should execute an IRS Form 8332, and provide it to the noncustodial parent. The noncustodial parent would then file that form with their tax return.