The court paperwork shows that we are supposed to both have equal custody of our child. But the father doesn’t take his trial on all days that he’s supposed to, and the child stays with me. He is now trying to claim the child on his tax return. Is there any way for me to stop this?

Answer:

This is the type of situation that should have been handled in court, when child custody was dealt with. This sounds a lot like there were no lawyers involved and now you’re dealing with the fact that not all the work was completed. The simple fact that who gets to claim the child as a dependent on the income taxes, is an issue to be dealt with when child custody is handled. If you look for your paperwork and everyone did their job correctly this should already have been done, as this is a very common piece of the child custody puzzle. Usually when both parents have equal or shared (physical) custody, then both parents will alternate on which year they claim the child as a dependent. So one year the mother will claim the child as a dependent on her tax returns and then the next year the father will claim the child as dependent on their tax returns and so forth in someone. Simply because one of the parents fails to see the child on a few occasions is really not something the courts are gonna want to hear about when you’re deciding who gets the claim the child as a dependent, this is the sort of thing should of been dealt with when custody was adjudicated.
Joseph F. Botelho, Esq.

BOTELHO LAW GROUP
Attorneys At Law

901 Eastern Ave.
Unit 2
Fall River, MA 02723

Office:  888-269-0688

Email: jbotelho@botelholawgroup.com

https://www.botelholawgroup.com/

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