@Rachel14 wrote:
My divorce order didn’t specify ever having to sign form 8332. And my ex never asked to have me sign one. So in order for me to be held in contempt for violating it the verbiage would have needed to be in the court order.
Not really. If your order says "you must allow the other parent to claim the child in alternate years" or something like that, the court may decide that implies you will follow any IRS procedure needed to make that happen. (The court could also decide not to enforce its own order. Or if the parent complains one year, the court can modify the order for future years to be more specific.)
However, it is also true that a non-custodial parent can claim the child without a signature from the custodial parent if their custody order was signed by the judge in 2008 or earlier, by attaching a copy of the custody order to their tax return. Since that was 13 years ago, and the special rules for children of divorced parents only apply when the child is a minor (under 18 in most states), that provision only applies to children between the ages of 13 and 17 as of the 2021 tax season. It is an important exception that should be kept in mind, but does not apply to most divorced or separated parents.
Some years ago, there was a post from a parent who refused to sign the necessary paperwork, and the judge took away their right to claim the child for the rest of the child's minority (until they turned 18) and forced the parent to sign a blanket form 8332 right there in court or else go to jail for contempt until they signed.
Certainly everyone's experience is unique and individual, but I have a responsibility to report what the regulations actually say.
https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-501
