joint guardianship/ court order states both grandparents can claim children even /odd years

[sadria]

A court issued joint guardianship between my granddaughter's paternal grandmother and myself in 2015. The judge put in the order that the paternal grandmother can claim the children on even years. The children however do not live with her and have weekend visitation 3 weekends out of the year, 2 consecutive weeks during the summer and three holidays every year. I have asked the IRS who can claim the children and I was told that I can claim them every year because the children live with me for over 7 months of the year, they are with me Sunday evening to Friday afternoon and every second weekend of each month. I provide for all of their expenses and daycare expenses and their address on medical and school records is my address. Both of their parents were murdered and that is how we ended up in court. The judge felt bad about our situation and did not want to give just one grandparent guardianship. I am the sole decision maker for education and we share decision making for medical but I mostly make those decisions. My question is, am I allowed to claim them every year and if I claim them would I be held in contempt of the order. I end up owing the IRS because I cannot claim the grandchildren when I provide everything for them. The other grandparent does not financially contribute to the children's living and daily expenses. I need a clear understanding on how a county court order affects the decision on claiming the grandchildren on my federal income tax. I do not currently use the attorney I had for the guardianship case. They really did not help and put me in debt.  Any advice would be helpful. 

[Vanessa A]

We cannot give you legal advise here, but the IRS does not follow local court rules. 

 Basically, since you have her more than 6 months out of the year and you meet the criteria to claim them every year, as the IRS told you, you can claim them every year. From a tax perspective, her other grandmother cannot claim her since she does not meet any of the guidelines to claim her.

If her other grandmother claimed her this year and you did as well, whoever files later would end up needing to mail in their tax return and the IRS would use the  Tie Breaker Rules to determine who gets to claim them. In the situation you are describing, you would be the one who would "win"