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from his parents; (2) the parents are divorced under a decree of
divorce; and (3) such child is in the custody of one or both of
his parents for more than one-half of the calendar year. If
these requirements are satisfied, as in the present case, "such
child shall be treated, for purposes of subsection (a), as
receiving over half of his support during the calendar year from
the parent having custody for a greater portion of the calendar
year (* * * referred to as the 'custodial parent')", thus
allowing the dependency exemption to be claimed by the "custodial
parent".
To decide who has "custody", section 1.152-4(b), Income Tax
Regs., provides that custody "will be determined by the terms of
the most recent decree of divorce" if there is one in effect.
Since petitioner's divorce decree granted custody and physical
possession of petitioner's daughter to his former spouse, the
former spouse is considered the child's "custodial parent" under
section 152(e).
Petitioner, as the "noncustodial parent", is allowed to
claim the child as a dependent if any one of three statutory
exceptions in section 152(e) is met. Under these exceptions, the
"noncustodial parent" is treated as providing over half of a
child's support if:
(1) Pursuant to section 152(e)(2), the custodial parent
signs a written declaration that such custodial parent will not
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