My grandchildren lived with me for 3 months the father signed a POA. Am I title to any income tax credit. From the father or the state.

[scamela2]

My son in law signed the children over to me for 3 months. They came with nothing and left with boxes of stuff. Clothing,shoes boots..everything. Can I claim them or do I have to go through the father.

[SweetieJean]

Where did they live the other 9 mos?

[scamela2]

Sadly with there drugged up father and his non working drunk girlfriend. There mother, my daughter was killed when her twins were 4.

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

I think the answer is quite simple. The most important rule, in claiming a minor child, is where they lived. Since they did not live with you for more than half the year and they DID LIVE with their father for more than half the year, you cannot claim them.

Rule #1, in the other answer, includes "cannot be  the qualifying child of any other taxpayer". The children are the "qualifying child" of their parent with whom they lived most of the year.

You cannot claim them, even if the father was willing to allow you to, unless the father is not required to file a tax return (basically his income is under the filing threshold). Even then you would have to meet the support test (#4), which is unlikely since you had them only three months 

[Texas Roger]

You can't claim them as qualifying child dependents because they didn't live with you more than half the year. You may be able to claim them as qualifying relative dependents if they met the following requirements:

1. The person cannot be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of any other taxpayer. A child is not the qualifying child of any other taxpayer if the child's parent (or any other person for whom the child is defined as a qualifying child) is not required to file an income tax return or files an income tax return only to get a refund on income tax withheld. You can't claim them if their father claims them.

2. The person either (a) must be related to you or (b) must live with you all year as a member of your household. 

3. The person's gross  taxable income for the year must be less than $4,050 in 2016.

4. You must provide more than half of the person's total support for the year.

5. The person must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico.

[SweetieJean]

It may be hard to meet #4.