Who gets to claim the Child Tax Credit when the child now lives with only one parent

[pdsmaui]

My ex wife and I share joint custody of our 16-year-old daughter. In the divorce decree, we agreed that our daughter would spend one week with each parent, alternating throughout the year (50/50). We also agreed that we would take turns claiming her on our taxes every other year.  But starting about a year and a half ago, our daughter began living with me full time (100% of the time). Does this mean that I can claim her as a dependent when I file my taxes, or am I still required to honor the divorce decree and allow my ex to claim her, despite the fact that I am the full time custodial parent?   

[Bsch4477]

The IRS ignores any divorce agreement. So you as the custodial parent has the right according to the IRS to claim the child tax credit. The courts are a separate matter so the other parent can ask the court to enforce your agreement and have the other parent claim that credit. In that case you would give the other parent permission to do so by giving the other parent a signed form 8332. 

[xmasbaby0]

Are you the custodial parent?  Do you have an agreement with the other parent to allow the other parent to claim them--due to divorce or that you live apart and share custody?  Did one of you sign a Form 8332?

If there is a signed 8332 then the custodial parent retains the right to file as Head of Household, get earned income credit and the childcare credit.  The non-custodial parent gets the child tax credit for children under the age of 17.

As far as the IRS is concerned, the custodial parent is the one with whom the child spent the most nights during the tax year--at least 183 nights.

[Hal_Al]

Prior to the change of the child living with you 100%, each parent could claim a Qualifying child dependent for his/her year to claim the child (technically you should have adjusted the custodial time so that the claimant had the child more than 50% of the time). 

But, now that you are the custodial parent, in the year your ex wife claims the dependent, she can only claim the Child Tax Credit (only through age 16). After age 16, it will be the $500 "Other dependent" credit. 

This may be helpful in your negotiations with the ex:

 There is a special rule in the case of divorced & separated (including never married) parents. When the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a dependent/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 dependency 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

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You can if you are the custodial parent.  The custodial  parent is the parent the child lived with for more than 183 nights in 2024 (more than 182 nights  in 2023).