Family Issues

A noncustodial parent may claim his or her child(ren) on his or her tax return if the custodial spouse signs IRS Form 8332. It is the Release of Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents. The signed Form 8332 must be attached to the noncustodial tax return each year. A noncustodial parent can ask the custodial parent to sign Form 8332 Part I which is a release of Claim to Exemption for future years. If this part is signed then the noncustodial parent may photocopy this form each year and attach it to the tax return.

If the noncustodial is paying more than 50% of the child's support, there is no court order regarding the dependency exemption. The noncustodial parent gets the exemption if the parents were never married based on the dependency support test. You will probably need to fill out a multiple support form from the IRS to determine which parent actually pays more than 50%. If the parents are divorced or separated the dependency custody test applies. The parent who has custody more than 50 percent of the time is entitled to claim the exemption. The noncustodial spouse who claims the exemption will have to get Form 8332 (release of exemption) signed by the custodial spouse.

Generally, the wording in the divorce or separation decree identifies the payments as Alimony or something other than Alimony, such as child support. Alimony is income to the recipient and an adjustment to income for the payer. Generally, for payments to be considered alimony, seven characteristics should be present. The payments are in cash or check. The payment must be paid under a divorce decree or separation instrument. The divorce decree or separation agreement cannot designate the payment as a payment which is not deductible by the payer or includable in gross income by the recipient. The recipient and the payer must not be members of the same household. The payments must not be treated as child support. The taxpayer and spouse may not file a joint return with each other. There must not be a liability to make any payment for any period after the death of the spouse.

If you live in the same house as your ex-spouse and are legally separated or divorced, you cannot deduct your alimony payments, nor is your ex-wife required to report the alimony as income.

No. There is no minimum payment period. Recapture of alimony amounts may apply where payments decrease by more than $15,000 within the first three years of the divorce.

The deductible alimony payments made in the first year or second year may have to be recaptured as income in the third year where the alimony payments within the first 3 years decrease by more than $15,000. Payments made in the second after the separation year are recaptured if the payments exceed the payments in the third post separation year by more than $15,000. Payments made in the first after the separation year are recaptured as income if they exceed the "average" payments made in the second post separation year and the third post separation year by more than $15,000. The recaptured amount is reported on IRS Form 1040 on the line Alimony received with a notation Alimony recapture with the payee spouse’s social security number.

If you are receiving survivor Social Security benefits because your spouse has died, you will not lose the survivor benefits if you remarry as long as you are age 60 or older. If you remarry, you might see your monthly Social Security check increase because you may qualify for higher benefits based on your new spouse's earnings history. You have an option to choose the higher of the two amounts. If you have children who are also receiving benefits, their status will be unaffected by your remarriage.

Children have the legal right to make their own choices at age 18.

A noncustodial parent does not lose the right to claim the child's medical expenses (health insurance, drs, dentists prescription drugs etc.) as an itemized deduction on IRS Schedule A (subject to the 10% or 7.5% AGI limitation)if both the custodial and noncustodial parent together provide more than half of the support of the child and either had custody for at least six months during the year.