My ex wants to claim him our 20 yr old student for 2018, since he paid for his college with the GI Bill. I provide his spending $ and home. Who's right?

[87tarheel]

He is claiming that the money he provides, nothing out of pocket only the GI Bill, makes him eligible to claim my son for 2018. My son lives with me when he's not at school and I provide him all spending money, car, car insurance, phone, clothes, etc. 

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

He is wrong.

If the student lives with you, you are the one entitled to claim him. Essentially, nothing else matters. Residence is the primary test.

The student is considered still residing with you, while he is away at school, even if living off campus. If he lived with you prior to going to school, he is still considered as living with you.

A child of a taxpayer can still be a “Qualifying Child” (QC) dependent, regardless of his/her income, if:

1. He is under age 19, or under 24 if a full time student for at least 5 months of the year, or is totally & permanently disabled

2. He did not provide more than 1/2 his own support. Scholarships & GI Bill are considered third party support and not as support provided by the student**. 

3. He lived with the parent (including temporary absences such as away at school) for more than half the year

The residence issue alone concludes that you are the one who can clam him.

**Note that the support requirement is NOT how much support either parent provided.  Even if  your Ex could count GI Bill as support provided by him (and he can't) it would not matter.

[macuser_22]

Even if you agreed, he could not legally claim the child for these reasons:

1) The child cannot be his Qualifying Child dependent because the child did not live with him the required more than 6 months of the year.

2) The child cannot be his Qualifying Relative dependent because you CAN claim him as a Qualifying Child Dependent even if you choose not to so claim. The fact that you CAN claim as a Qualifying Child precludes anyone else from claiming as a Qualifying Relative.  

3) You cannot agree to release the dependent under the rules for separated parents since the child is over age 18 and is an adult in almost every state and those rules cease to apply once the child becomes an adult. So unless you live in one of the few states with a higher age such as IN or NY.     And releasing the dependent, even if you do live in one of those states is at the option of the parent that the child lived with.

[87tarheel]

Thank you for responding. I'm in NC.

[macuser_22]

The age of majority in North Carolina is eighteen.   After that age only the person the the child physically lived with for the required 6 months (except for temporary absence to attend school) can claim as a Qualifying Child Dependent.