@mimiwrestler wrote:
Thanks! How about if my son is 19 years old? Full-time college student?
The same rules apply, provided you understand the rule for "temporary absences." Children are considered to be living with their parents during temporary absences. For example, if the child normally lives with the mother and spends a week camping with a friend, that counts as a temporary absence and the mother still gets credit for the child living with her since the child would have lived with her except for the temporary absence.
College is considered a temporary absence, so if the child would normally (for example) spend Wednesdays and alternate weekends with parent #2 and the rest of the time with parent #1, then while the child is away at college, the parents would consider the child to be living with them on the same schedule. And thus in that case, the child "lives with" parent #1 more than half the year and only parent #1 can claim the child automatically.
Part of the special rules for children of separated or divorced parents is that if the child is emancipated under state law, the child is not considered to live with either parent. Assuming the child is emancipated automatically at age 18, then the special rules dissolve and the ability to claim the child as a dependent will fall back to the regular procedures for everyone. The child would be a dependent of the parent where he lived more than half the nights of the year, including temporary absences, and the dependent credit could no longer be released to the other parent. Or if the child provided more than half their own support, then they are not a dependent of anyone.
Read this for more:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf
