 So however, this doesn't allow the non-custodial parent to claim head of household filing status. Now this, again, kind of an unusual situation here because now you're saying that you're not gonna claim them as the dependent, but you could possibly still use them for the head of household filing status. So remember, when we talked about the statuses, single versus head of household, if for example, a couple was married, they'd have a married filing joint status, which is usually beneficial status unless you're dealing with like low income credits and stuff where all bets are off for that. And then when they get separate, if there was a divorce or something like that, then you would revert back to single if you didn't have any qualifying relatives, usually oftentimes children. So that means that the person, if there's a qualifying child involved, it might push up the filing status from single to head of household, which could be substantial. And you could end up with a situation where you actually don't claim the dependent, but you still fall into the rules of being able to have head of household filing status. So again, weird, strange situation, but one that could come up when you're trying to come up with like a separation agreement or something like that with a joint custody kind of situation. So the custodial parent or another taxpayer, if eligible, can claim the child for the earned income credit and these other benefits so you can see publication 501 for more details there. So the earned income credit is also tied to how many children are there as well. So again, with the lower income side of things, the child becomes quite, for tax purposes, have a lot of tax dollars kind of tied to them because now you've got possibly head of household status, you've got the child tax credit and then you could have the earned income credit, which increases from one to three children from zero to three children substantially for the low income side of things. So again, you can have some kind of unusual, you can imagine unusual situations happening there. So custodial and non-custodial parents, the custodial parent is the parent with whom the child lived for the greater number of nights in 2022. So usually you would think who's gonna be taking the child as a dependent, the custodial parent, the one they lived with for most of the time. The non-custodial parent is the other parent. So, but you can imagine a situation, of course, where the custodial parent is the one that the child lives with, but possibly not the one that provides most of the support maybe and you can imagine from a tax standpoint then if you're trying to get the biggest benefit tax wise between everybody involved that it might be more beneficial to claim them as a dependent on the person that provides the support because their income level might be higher. And so you get more of a tax benefit there while the other parent would still like to be able to claim them so that they get the head of household status as opposed to single and possibly for qualifications of like earned income credit and that kind of stuff. So you see how this gets kind of messy. So if the child was with each parent for an equal number of nights, the custodial parent is the parent with the higher adjusted gross income. Now, some people kind of bulk at this they're like, well, why would that be? Meaning if you split it evenly because that's often the case with a joint custody situation, then they're gonna say the custodial parent is the one with the higher adjusted gross income. The assumption being, well, you're taking care of them evenly and then the one with the higher adjusted gross income is probably meeting more of their support needs. And so that's why they would default to them you would in that situation. So C publication 501 for an exception for the parent who works at night rules for a child who is emancipated under state law and other details. So other exceptions could apply in strange situations. So post 1984 and pre 2009 decree or agreement. So the decree or agreement must state all three of the following. One, the non custodial parent can claim the child as a dependent without regard to any condition such as payment of support. So now we're thinking, okay, what about that situation with a non custodial parent is getting permission from the custodial parent to claim them what kind of decree do you need from the custodial parent in order to allow the non custodial parent to take them. So it can't be tied directly to payment of support because if you're doing that, then of course it's just a monetary, you're paying for the tax benefit, right? Which is kind of doesn't seem quite right. Number two, the other parent won't claim the child as a dependent. Obviously that's what the terms of this whole agreement has to come to because again, you don't want to have a situation where both people are fighting to just file their tax return first to claim the dependent so the other person can't and then get it into a whole fight over that on the tax, nobody wins that situation except of course the lawyers. The lawyers love it. The lawyers eat it up. They're gonna make you bicker like a, ah! But in any case, number three, the years for which the claim is released. So then you want some defined terms on it. The non custodial parent must include all of the following pages from the decree or agreement. Cover page including the other parent's social security number on that page. So the tax IRS needs to know who the other parent is, their social security number by number. The pages that include all the information identified in one through three above signature page with the other parent's signature and date of agreement. Caution, you must include the required information even if you filed it with your return in an earlier year. So you might be saying, hey, look, I already gave you this last year. Do you need it again? Apparently the answer is yes. So post 2008 decree or agreement, if the divorce decree or separation agreement went into effect after 2008, the non custodial parent can't include pages from the decree or agreement instead of form 8332. So then you've got this form 8332. The custodial parent must sign either form 8332 or a substantially similar statement, the only purpose of which is to release the custodial parent's claim to certain tax benefits for a child and the non custodial parent must include a copy with their return. So you've got the form that you can file 8332. The form or statement must release the custodial parent's claim to the child without any conditions. For example, the release must depend on the non custodial parent pain support. The release must not depend on the non custodial parent pain support. Release of certain tax benefits revoked. A custodial parent who has revoked their previous release of a claim to certain tax benefits for a child must include a copy of the revocation with their return for details there. You can see form 8332 exception to the citizen test. So if you are a US citizen or US national and your adopted child lived with you all year as a member of your household, that child meets the requirement to be a US citizen in step two, question one, step three, question two, step four, question two and step five, question two, exceptions to gross income tax, a test. So if you're relative, including a person who lived with you all year as a member of your household, is permanently and totally disabled, defined later, certain income for service performed at a sheltered workshop may be excluded for this test. So for more details there, you can see publication 501. Remember if they're not a qualifying child and whatnot and they're like an other dependent, that that income test was quite low to be able to claim them as a dependent, one of the barriers.