The questions are:
- Does your mother have to file a tax return? No, as explained in answers above
- Do you qualify as HOH if your mother is filing separately from her husband? If you can answer the questions below, the answer is yes.
In order to claim Head of Household, you need to be:
- -unmarried or considered unmarried, meaning separated, divorced, or living apart from your spouse for at least the last 6 months of the year,
- -pay more than 50% of the cost of maintaining a household for the year, in which a qualifying person lived for more than half the year.
Household costs include rent or mortgage payments, utilities, and other things specifically related to the residence.
One or both of your parents could be the Qualifying person in your household if you are claiming one or both of them as dependents.
From the IRS:
You may be able to file as head of household if you meet all the following requirements.
1. You are unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year.
2. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.
3. A qualifying person lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences, such as school). However, if the qualifying person is your dependent parent, he or she doesn't have to live with you. See Special rule for parent, later, under Qualifying Person.
You can use the following link to go to the same Publication from the IRS to read more if you like:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf
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