Can i deduct medical expenses for a nondependent child being claimed by the other parent if I paid the expenses

[dbentley954]

my ex-husband claims my youngest daughter as an exemption on his taxes, however can I deduct the unreimbursed medical expenses I have paid for her?

[LindaA · Accepted solution]

Yes. Under the divorced/separated parents rule, you may deduct medical expenses paid on behalf of your child even if the other parent claims the child as a dependent. Here are the requirements for this deduction:

1. The child must be in the custody of one or both parents for more than half of the year.
2. The child must receive over half of his or her support during the year from his or her parents.
3. The child's parents must be divorced or legally separated, separated under a written separation agreement, or have lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of the year.
   

[Hal_Al]

Yes. 

Although the general rule is that a person must be your dependent, to deduct medical expenses, there is an exception for  the children of divorced and separated parents. 

Medical expenses are only an itemized deduction, subject to the 7.5% of AGI threshold.

There is another special rule for divorced parents that you may need to know about.  When the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a dependent/exemption/child tax credit; the custodial parent** is still allowed to claim the same child for Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status, and day care credit. This "splitting of the child" is not available to parents who lived together at any time during the last 6 months of the year; then only one of you can claim the child for any tax reasons. The tax benefits may not be split in any other manner.

Note in particular that the non-custodial parent can never claim the Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status or the day care credit, based on that child, even when the custodial parent has released the exemption to him.

 So, it's good idea to let the other parent know that you will be claiming those items, as many first time divorced parents are not aware of this rule and may try to claim those items, which will cause the IRS to send out letters.

Ref: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2017_publink1000170897

** The IRS goes by physical custody, not legal custody.  For tax purposes, there is no such thing as joint custody, regardless of what your legal agreement says. The requirement, to be custodial parent, is that the child live with you MORE than 50% of the time. One of you has to be the custodial parent and the other the non-custodial parent.