Should we claim him on our taxes?
My husband separated from his ex when his son was 3 he is now 14. First couple of years they alternated thier child on taxes. We had him every Friday though Monday and paid child support. When I got pregnant with out 1st (we have 4 children together now) she decided we don’t need to claim their son anymore because we have a kid to claim and filed him behind our back on our year. My husband let it go and has let her claim him for the last 8 years. We ended up moving out of state 2 year ago upping our child support and changing to a holiday schedule where we covered all his flights for visitation. His mom sent him to stay with us while she moved states and was only supposed to be a month. 3 months later while still paying child support while he was living with us it was decided he would stay with us full time so he could go to school in person(her schools were still online while ours were open for in person learning). At that point it was agreed we stop paying the 600 a month child support. We still paid for his flight to visit her until the last one. My husband told her we don’t ask her for child support or help with his school fees, if she wants to see him the she needs to pay for it. She agreed but only flew him out for Thanksgiving saying she couldnt afford to again for xmas and her living situation was weird (she has 3 roommates) We couldnt afford the tickets either after xmas shopping for 5 kids. He has lived with us for a year and a half now. My husband wants to claim him on our taxes this year but I know that will cause alot of drama and my get his ex in trouble owing alot of money back to the irs for the last stimulus and the child tax credits. The money would be extremely helpful but I’m not sure it’s worth the drama. Our parents are saying to claim him as and saying she isn’t our problem. Should we claim him?