I certainly don't mean to be crass about it, but the IRS doesn't care what your court order says. They have rules as to who is entitled to an EIC regardless of who claims the child as a dependent. To be eligible to claim the child as a dependent for EIC purposes, your child must:
Be appropriately related to you
Have lived with you for more than 1/2 the year
Meet the age requirement test
Not file a joint return
You can look in IRS Publication 596 to see an expanded definition of these items.
If the child did not live with you for more than 1/2 the year, you cannot claim the child as a dependent for purposes of the EIC even if you claim the child as a dependent for the $4,050 dependent exemption.
Who has to file what pieces of paper with their return depends on who the actual custodial parent is, the parent with whom the child lived for more than 1/2 the year. If that is you, you need only claim the child for EIC purposes if you are allowing the father to claim the child for purposes of the dependent exemption and the Child Tax Credit. The TT program will walk you through this in the dependent interview area. In this case, he needs a Form 8332 from you to claim the child.
If the child lived more than 1/2 the year with the father, you cannot claim the EIC.
