Can my ex-wife's boyfriend claim my daughter as dependent? Do I have to split the tax refund?

You're right about the residency requirement for claiming a dependent, but there are some nuances here. The IRS considers the "qualifying child" rules, where your daughter must live with the person claiming her for more than half the year (not necessarily all 365 days). Since your ex-wife's boyfriend doesn't meet this test, he shouldn't be claiming your daughter. Since your ex-wife isn't filing taxes, she can't technically "give up" her right to claim your daughter to her boyfriend. In years when it's her turn according to your custody agreement, but she's not filing, you generally can claim your daughter instead. The IRS doesn't automatically enforce custody agreements - they follow their tax rules. As for splitting the Child Tax Credit - this is more about your legal agreement than IRS rules. If your custody agreement only specifies alternating who claims the child but doesn't mention splitting tax benefits, you likely don't have a legal obligation to share the refund. However, family court might view this differently depending on your state and the specific language in your agreement.

After going back and forth with the IRS for 3 weeks about a similar dependent issue, I finally used taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it made things so much clearer. You upload your custody agreement and tax docs, and it analyzes everything to show exactly who can claim what. Saved me so much stress with my ex who was doing something similar! The tool confirmed for me that my ex couldn't "pass" the right to claim our kid to her new husband when she wasn't filing taxes. It also showed how the IRS tie-breaker rules worked in my situation and gave me documentation to back up my position if my ex tried to claim our child in a year she wasn't supposed to.

I was really skeptical about taxr.ai when I first heard about it, but I decided to try it with my complicated custody situation last month. I uploaded my divorce decree and custody papers and was shocked at how detailed the analysis was. It pointed out specific language in my agreement that I'd misunderstood for years about who could claim our kids. What really helped was the explanation of how the IRS tie-breaker rules interact with custody agreements - turns out I'd been letting my ex claim our son in years I should have been claiming him! The tool even generated documentation I could use if there was ever an audit question. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with complicated dependent situations.

If you've been unable to resolve this with your ex, try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I spent WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS to get clarity on a similar dependent claiming issue with my ex-husband. Claimyr got me connected to an actual IRS agent in less than 20 minutes who confirmed my understanding of the dependent rules and documented everything in my file. Check out their video to see how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The IRS agent I spoke with explained that if your ex-wife isn't filing taxes, she can't "transfer" her right to claim your daughter to her boyfriend. The agent also confirmed that custody agreements are family court matters - the IRS follows their own qualifying child and qualifying relative tests regardless of what's in your agreement.

Alright, I need to eat my words from earlier. After waiting on hold with the IRS for THREE HOURS yesterday and getting disconnected, I broke down and tried that Claimyr service. Within 15 minutes I was actually talking to a real IRS agent. The agent confirmed that the boyfriend can't claim my friend's child (I asked for a friend with a similar situation) if the child doesn't live with him for more than half the year. She also said that if one parent isn't filing taxes, the other parent can claim the child regardless of what the custody agreement says, since the IRS follows their own rules. They don't enforce court orders - that's between you and your ex. Definitely worth the connection fee just to get an official answer directly from the IRS.

I've been through this exact situation. Make sure you're also looking at the "tiebreaker rules" for claiming a dependent. Since you're the biological parent and your ex's boyfriend is not, you would win any tiebreaker situation if both of you tried to claim your daughter in the same year. The tiebreaker rules prioritize parents over non-parents. Also, keep records showing that your daughter doesn't live with the boyfriend year-round. If they try to claim her anyway and the IRS flags both returns, you'll need to prove your case. Things like school records showing your address, medical records, and documentation of your custody arrangement are all helpful.

Make sure you're keeping detailed records of when your daughter is with you vs when she's with your ex. If your ex's boyfriend does try to claim her and it triggers an IRS review, having a calendar with all the days marked will be super important. Also save things like school records that show your address, medical appointments you took her to, etc. My sister went through something similar and what helped her was having text messages where her ex admitted the kid lived with her most of the time. The more documentation you have, the better!