First, understand that federal laws must be followed when it comes to divorced or separated parents of children. What your divorce decree or separation agreement may say holds absolutely no weight with the IRS. You must follow federal laws. Period.
In order to claim your children as your dependents there are several requirements that "MUST" be met.
- Child must have lived in your household for at least 6 months (183 days) of the tax year.
- The child must not have provided more than half of their own support for the entire tax year.
That's just two I can recall off the top of my head. But take note that child support DOES NOT count for the child providing their own support, and it does not count for the payer of that child support either.
See IRS Publication 504 at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p504.pdf for more detailed information. You can also use the table at https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/table_3_children_of_divorced_separated_4012.pdf if that helps simplify things.
