My daughter and her 3 children have lived with us from September thru December 2016. Can we claim them as dependents?

[madisonthomas14]

Her divorce was final in August 2016.

[Phillip1 · Accepted solution]

Most likely not.

The first issue is that you can only claim your daughter as a dependent if her income was below 4,050 dollars and you provided more than half of her support for the year. Since she did not move in with you until September, I assume it is unlikely you would have provided more than 50% of her support for the year.

The second issue is that children are always the dependents of their parents if the following applies:

• The children are under the age of 18, or between 19-24 if a full-time college student.

• The children live with you for more than half of the year.

• The children do not provide more than half of their own support.

• For older children, they do not file a joint tax return with a spouse.

The mother most likely qualifies to claim the children. However, if she did not qualify to claim the children or if she qualified as your dependent, her ex-husband may also be able to claim the children if they lived together until July 1, 2016.