@Jenlynne here is what gets confusing.... while a judge can say each of you trade off who claims the child, the implication of that order has to align with the IRS rules - what the judge says can't override the IRS.
by federal law, the custodial parent is the parent who the children live with at least 183 nights of the year. There is no such thing as "50/50" in IRS parlance.
So in actuality here is what occurs:
1) in the year the custodial parent claims the child, it's easy, the non-custodial parent doesn't.
2) then in the other year BOTH claim the SAME child, but for different purposes. The federal law only permits the custodial parent to give the non-custodial the right to claim the child tax credit, the other dependent credit and the two educational tax credits (AOTC and LLC). Nothing else can be passed to the non-custodial parent.
So the custodial parent can claim EITC and the dependent care credit, use the child to file HOH; those benefits can't be given or used by the non-custodial parent. The judge may say the non-custodial parent gets to claim the child, but that doesn't mean the non-custodial parent can claim these benefits.
make sense?
