claiming my kids

For a discussion on this topic, see:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/after-you-file/discussion/my-ex-claimed-our-child-but-our-court-order-says-i-m-supposed-to-claim-her-can-i-e-file-without/00/767082

Federal tax law is that only the custodial parent (which is the parent with whom the kids live more than half the year) has the right to claim them on a tax return.

The custodial parent can give up that right to the non-custodial parent by completing and signing IRS Form 8332 and giving it to the non-custodial parent.  The non-custodial parent must then file Form 8332 with their own tax return.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8332.pdf

The IRS does not enforce local court orders.  Enforcement is up to the local court that issued the order.

In brief, there is no way to claim the children on your tax return without the cooperation of your ex.  Your ex needs to give you a signed form 8332 (dependent release) that you use to file your tax return and you must mail to the IRS after e-filing.  The IRS does not honor state court custody cases, they only follow their own federal laws and regulations.

You can complain to the family court.  The family court can take various actions including forcing the other parent to sign the release, or modifying the support or custody order, or even holding the other parent in contempt.  But you have to seek your remedy in family court.

On the off chance that your ex did not deliberately claim the children, and just needs to be educated on what to do, the previous discussion has all the information, or if you post a specific question here, we can clarify anything you don't understand.  

This is a difficult situation since the IRS will process the first return received. You could amicably

discuss with your ex-spouse to see if he or she will be willing to pay you the difference that you will be overpaying the IRS. 

Publication 501 is quite specific that the IRS will not honor a post-2008 custody agreement when assigning dependents. It may be that a custody agreement can help (along with other proof) a custodial parent to establish they had custody more than half the nights of the year when there is a conflict. But I don't see any support that the non-custodial parent can use a custody agreement to claim the dependents. Post-2008 divorce decree or separation agreement. The noncustodial parent can attach pages from the decree or agreement to the tax return instead of Form 8332 if the decree or agreement went into effect after 2008. The custodial parent must sign either Form 8332 or a similar statement whose only purpose is to release the custodial parent's claim to an exemption.

@ryano_111 

[Edited 02/17/2023| 3:12pm PST]