Divorce Advice for Men | Fathers Rights Divorce | Child Custody

By Tara N. Brewer

Special to DadsDivorce.com

As you scramble to file taxes before the deadline, many divorced dads or separated parents face two questions. Who can claim the dependent/s and what tax breaks can I qualify for?

For tax purposes, children are dependents. The parent raising the dependent the majority of the time is considered the custodial parent. The other parent is considered the noncustodial parent.

If the child lived with each parent for an equal amount of time, then the custodial parent would be deemed the parent with the higher adjusted gross income.

Question:

I pay a monthly property settlement to my ex-wife on the equity in our former marital home. This payment is mandated in our marriage separation agreement.

Are these property payments tax deductible?

Question:

Both my federal tax return and my state tax return were intercepted because I owe child support.

However, I believe the returns took too much of my money as the amount intercepted was more than I owed in arrears.

How can I dispute the amount of child support money taken out of my state and federal tax returns?

Question:

I am divorced and as part of our decree, I am allowed to claim our children on my taxes.

However, I have to pay my ex-wife the difference between what she gets back and what she would get back if she claimed the kids.

Am I entitled to see a copy of her submitted tax return to verify what I owe her? If not, I am taking her word for it.

Question:

My ex-wife has repeatedly violated our divorce decree by claiming our son when filing taxes, even though we have 50-50 joint custody and the court order allows me to claim our son every year.

This has happened for four years now where she has beat me to the punch and filed first claiming our child.

What can I do so the IRS knows she is in violation of the order and I should be the one allowed to claim our son? Can I be reimbursed for the money this has cost me over the past four years?