I have a shared custody arrangement with my oldest daughter. She is with us every other weekend. How long should I say she "lived with me"? 12 months? 3?

[SweetieJean]

WITH your daughter, or FOR your daughter?

[Lisa995]

I assumed the arrangement was with the other parent for the oldest daughter.

[SweetieJean]

Count up how many actual nights she stayed with you.

[Texas Roger]

Divide the number of nights she stayed with you by 30. That is approximately how many months she lived with you.

[SweetieJean · Accepted solution]

Or do this:

2 nights every other week equals 52 nights per year.

52/365 = .14.25%

.1425 x12 = 1.71 mos.

You are not her custodial parent, since you had her less then 50% of the time.

[Opus 17]

This will give the correct answer in turbotax.  Because you don't have custody more than half the nights of the year, you can't claim her as a dependent unless you get a signed release.  By figuring your custody in this manner (4 nights per month= about 2 months) turbotax will give you the correct options in the interview.

[TomD8]

"You are not her custodial parent"...and therefore you cannot claim her as a dependent on your tax return (unless the custodial parent releases to you his/her right to claim her, or it's spelled out in a pre-2009 divorce agreement).