I was awarded sole legal and physical custody of my 2 grandchildren in October 2016. They started living with us full-time in August, 2016.

[ConL]

Prior to that, they lived in a home we purchased. Dad stopped supporting his family around May, 2016 leaving my husband and I to pay all expenses on that home, purchase food and clothing for the kids. We finally evicted them from the home. Daughter and the 2 kids came to live with us, however, now that we have custody, my daughter is living in a hotel with her husband. They have paid us very little child support. Certainly not even enough to cover the high cost of daycare. They lived with us only 5 months full time in 2016, but we still provided for them prior to that and they will live with us full-time here on out. Can I claim them as dependents on our tax return? Even though I let them know I was going to claim them, I feel they will claim them anyway so they can get a larger tax return.

[MiriamF]

Yes, you can claim the dependents on your tax return.

When the court granted legal custody, the custodial parent's rights come first. If the courts said nothing about who claims the dependencies for tax purposes, then they are yours to claim. You have been declared the parent.

There are tie-breaker rules to determine who gets to claim a child for tax purposes. These are listed in order of priority: 

1. The parents, if they file a joint return;. 

2. The parent, if only one of the persons is the child's parent; 

3. The parent with whom the child lived the longest during the tax year, if two of the persons are the child's parent and they do not file a joint return together; 

4. The parent with the highest adjusted gross income (AGI) if the child lived with each parent for the same amount of time during the tax years, and they do not file a joint return together; 

5. The person with the highest AGI, if no parent can claim the child as a qualifying child; or 

6. A person with the higher AGI than any parent who can claim the child as a qualifying child but does not.

Under these rules, the court has superceded the birth parents' rights by granting them to you.

If your tax return is rejected because the dependents have already been claimed, then you will need to file by mail. The IRS will send you a letter requesting proof that you have the right to claim the children. Do not send additional documents with your tax return; wait until the IRS requests them.

Here are the IRS rules about claiming tax benefits with qualifying children.

[davidmiller8686]

My nephew was taken out of home by dhr and my mother "whom lives with me and my oldest nephew also taken out of parents custody 8years ago"was awarded full custody of younger brother over 3 years ago.in 2015 I claimed the youngest nephew and the father of the child also did. We were audited and I was awarded full tax refund. Every year my sister and her husband get someone different to claim my nephew,and because they efile first,they always get a refund.i also get a refund after mailing mine in. But this year mine was efiled and rejected, but because we needed the money and it was suggested to me to take him off so I could efile,then after receiving refund I was told to amend my tax return and mail it in along with all the proof to show he's lived with me and the custody papers along with a stack of other documents. I'm worried because I didn't mail it in,and took him off that it's not gonna help me by amending my taxes. 

[DianeC958]

No, it will help you to amend you taxes and put the child back on. Add the proof of your right to claim the child on your tax return and the IRS will sort it out.

All amended returns have to be mailed and it will take 8-16 weeks for the return to process.

Link to How To Amend Your Return