Right?

[jainen]

Tell me if I understand correctly--we haven't looked at this issue yet. We know that a parent can now claim a qualifying child even if she doesn't support him (as long as the child does not provide more than half his own support). Right? That was one of the new changes for 2005.

What didn't change were the rules for allowing a non-custodial parent to claim the child. That still requires that one or both parents provide more than half the support. So a single mother with child being supported by the grandparents or by Welfare could claim her son, but the absent father could not EVEN IF he has a signed Form 8332. Right?

[Bees Knees]

TTB, page 3-14, Children of Divorced or Separated Parents, number 2 says the child has to have received over half of his or her support from the parents, without regard to the rules on multiple support agreements.

If the combined support from each parent is not over half of the total support, the rules for children of divorced or separated parents does not apply. In such a case, the non-custodial parent could not claim the child as a dependent.