If you have read the entire conversation above, you will note that, from a tax standpoint, the children either needed to have lived with you for at least 6 months and 1 day out of the year (or more than half of the remainder of the year in the year a baby is born) for you to claim them as qualifying children. If you did not live with any of them for half of the year, you can still claim the children for the Child Tax Credit ($2000 credit) if the mother provides you with Form 8332. No matter how you are able to claim the children, you will need their Social Security Number to do so. There is no provision in the Tax Code that obligates the mother to provide you with this information. If she is not providing this information to you, you may wish to seek legal counsel to see what options you have, which is out of scope of what information we can provide on this Forum.
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