<p>Perhaps you can convince him by pointing out the additional tax deductions for college costs? >></p>
<p>If she uses the GI Bill, there are no qualified education expenses, so you can’t claim education benefits at tax time, correct? This is assuming she is at an in-state school. The GI Bill covers all tuition and fees and has a book stipend that should cover most or all of the books if she doesn’t buy all brand new/from the college books.</p>
<p>Regarding the father claiming D1 on his taxes, IRS rules are pretty clear. I am a tax advisor, and I have several clients in this very same situation:</p>
<p>Dependents fall into two categories, and the one that is important here is “qualifying child.” She will be under 24, and a full time students. The only way she can claim herself on her own taxes is if she provides more than 50% of her own support.</p>
<p>Because her mother and step father (and presumably father) will be supporting her, she cannot claim herself, but will be claimed by one of her parents. Because of the divorce decree, if her mother is eligible to claim her, then so is her father, and he has the right to claim her. The fact that he is or is not providing ANY support is not relevant. The mother could be providing 100% of her support, and the father can still claim her.</p>
<p>The only way to get around this is for D1 to support herself. This would be the case if she takes out significant amounts of student loans in her own name.</p>
<p>The other issue is the tax credits - some of which might not even exist after this year anyway. If all of her tuition is paid using GI bill funds, or other VA benefits, she has paid no tuition, and cannot claim these credits (nor can her father who claims her as a dependent).</p>
<p>The way divorce decrees and the tax law can work together often does not make any sense. My friend had full custody of her two kids, and decided that she preferred to get a full settlement rather than payments from her ex. But one thing that was added to the decree was that the dad was allowed to declare the younger of the two kids as his dependent. That was so that he could file as single parent, a preferable tax status. This is standard in divorce situations, and you won’t get far with a judge if you hold out because it makes no sense to make the other person pay more in taxes. A good divorce attorney will do the numbers so that the only benefit gotten is the tax benefit and make adjustments to such settlement. In reality…it gets swallowed in the mix, but this is standard procedure to let the parents share the tax benefit in declaring the kids as dependents.</p>
<p>The problem comes when the situation changes, as it has for OP. Now there are college tax credit issues as well as the favorable status. It will take a divorce attorney familiar with these situations to advise how this should be handled, and it could well be that it’s not worth challenging. You gotta pay the lawyer to take the thing to court if the ex won’t budge and if the precedent in the court is to keep the decree as intact as possible, you could be out of luck. But none of us have both sufficient info and expertise to make this call. Very much a local legal issue.</p>
<p>2collegewego, yes, I had an attorney, a very good attorney, who advised me against this but it was my decision, a bad one at that. And yes, I agree that splitting up the kids as deductions might be something we can agree on. As far as the GI Bill being part of the settlement, I don’t think that took effect until after our divorce was finalized.</p>
<p>He will only be deferring half of the benefits to her and the other half to her sister, who is currently a sophomore.</p>
<p>I have a call in to my attorney. The sticky part here is that my ex is deployed until March.</p>
<p>You all have been so helpful, and I wish there was a better way to show my appreciation.</p>
<p>Good luck!!</p>
<p>Thanks OHMomof2! Sounds like a need a bit of it!</p>
<p>As I read back, you did get that for financial aid it makes no difference who claims the kids on taxes right?</p>
<p>My ex and I split ours for taxes, he gets one and I get one. I’m custodial parent of both and the one who files FAFSA (and pays all college expenses too).</p>
<p>Yes, OHMomof2, I did…thank you!</p>
<p>And, that’s the path I am going to try to take.</p>