Emancipation and Income Taxes

[Jerseymom48]

My question involves emancipation laws for the State of: New Jersey
My ex husband emancipated our son in May of 2008 and now wants to claim him on his income taxes. Does he have the right to do this or can I legally claim him since I did not emancipate him and I supported him up until he went into the Navy on October 7, 2008?

[cbg]

How old is your son and when you say your ex-husband emancipated him, what do you mean? Emancipation happens within the courts and it is not possible to be emancipated from one parent and not the other.

[Jerseymom48]

Our son is 18 years old. My ex emancipated him to stop paying child support and another kind of support he needed such as college and so fourth. Our son has lived with me all year until oct when he left for the Navy up until then I supported him.

[gigirle]

Your ex husband can't emancipate your son only a court can. So did your ex husband take your son to court?
As you were told above, you can't be emancipated from one parent and not the other.
When did your son turn 18 yrs old? In May?

My ex emancipated him to stop paying child support and another kind of support he needed such as college and so fourth

Did he have a court order that said he needed to continue supporting your son?

[Mr. Knowitall]

If the court order says that support stops at age 18, that may well be that. Or if the father established to the court that the criteria set forth in the support order for terminating support had been met, such that his support obligation was ended by the court, that's that.

The IRS has its own standard for who can claim the deduction for a dependent child. Your divorce judgment and custody order may have already resolved which of you gets the deduction - you've read them, and we haven't. But assuming they're silent, here are the IRS rules.

[Jerseymom48]

Yes the court oder states that our son was emancipated and that his father no longer had to pay support for him. Our son turned 18 in march of this year.

[llworking]

My ex husband emancipated our son in May of 2008 our son is 18. My ex now wants to claim him on his income taxes. Does he have the right to do this or can I legally claim him since I did not emancipate him and I supported him up until he went into the Navy on October 7, 2008? Than you for your time.

Odds are that if you both claimed him that you would win under the federal tiebreaker rules.

However, how much your son earned in total, for the year, would be a factor as well. It could be that neither of you could claim him.

[gigirle]

What does your divorce decree say about who gets to claim him and what have you done in the past?

[llworking]

What does your divorce decree say about who gets to claim him and what have you done in the past?

The divorce decree is no longer relevant since the child has been emancipated.