Can my girlfriends parents claim our child if I say no but we all live together.

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
June 6, 2019
11 replies
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My girlfriend, son and I live together with her parents. She is 17, I am 20 and we lived separate until she became pregnant, at that time we all made a mutual agreement to get an apartment together, my name is on lease as well as theirs and I work and pay my part of the bills for the household so it is not that I live with them, it is that we all live together. Once the baby was born they got the social security card and birth certificate from the mail and will not allow me to have them because they intend to claim him on their taxes. My question is can they? I have a job and I pay my taxes and file return and my name is on the birth certificate as the father but because their daughter is under the age of 18 and we all live under one roof they are going to claim him and say that I can't. We are not married, my job supports the baby, I pay my bills, shouldn't I be able to claim my child? What would happen if we both claimed him? Can i report them for this? An attorney told us that the only way her parents would not be able to claim him would be if my girlfriend told her parents they can't do it but she is afraid of her mom and won't do this. Any answers or details would be greatly appreciated.

Best answer by Critter

First the GF is the dependent of her parents so she cannot claim the child at all AND you cannot claim her either so she is out of the mix.

Then support is a mute subject since to claim the child all that needs to be true is that the child is not self supporting which I assume he is not at his age.

You will also need to file as single and not Head of Household since you probably didn't pay more than 1/2 of the total household support for more than 1/2 the year.

So we are down to you or the grandparents claiming the child....

You, as the parent, have the superior right to claim the child and if you & the grandparents both claim the child you will win in an IRS audit.

IF you choose to let the grandparents claim the child you can as long as the grandparent's income is more than yours.

Since you all live together you all really need to sit down & talk this over ... see whose return the child does the most on so you get the best return for the entire family not just one person.

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deckerjason03

idk why it is hard to believe that a 20 year old pays everything to take care of his gf an his son….:i am 19 i have my own apartment an own car i pay for, while my 17 year old gf an 6 month old son lives with me an has no job and i pay for everything an make sure everything is provided for them as needed..parents are low lives that worry ab drug addiction more then there own kids. That being said i am in the same boat but he parents don’t live with me but are trying to claim my gf do i have the right to claim her considering she’s lived with me for 2 years an her mom has had a job 4 jobs only worked 4 mouth out of the year

DaveF1006

You can claim a boyfriend or girlfriend as a dependent on your federal income taxes if that person meets certain Internal Revenue Service requirements. This is true for your girlfriend's child as well.

To qualify as a dependent, your partner and child must have lived with you for the entire calendar year and listed your home as their official residence for the full year.
If your partner has gross income above a certain amount ($4,700 for tax year 2023), you can’t claim that person as a dependent.
You must have paid more than half of your partner’s and child's living expenses during the calendar year in which you’re claiming that person as a dependent.

The parents would have first priority in claiming. This would depend whether or not they paid for more than 1/2 support for the child. Typically for you to claim, it would be best if you file your return before the parents do. Then if the parents file claiming them as dependents, then their return will be rejected because you have already filed claiming your girlfriend as dependents. This could also work against you if they file first.

If this escalates into an ongoing dispute with the parents, you will need to file a protest letter with the IRS detailing the dispute and why you should be awarded the privilege of claiming your girlfriend and her child. This could be contentious because the investigation could be lengthy because you or her parents would need to provide tangible proof that you both paid for than 1/2 support.

@deckerjason03

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