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that he had custody of them for the greater portion of either of
the years in issue.
Section 151(a) and (c) allows a deduction for a dependent as
defined in section 152. A son or daughter of the taxpayer, over
half of whose support during the calendar year is provided for by
the taxpayer, is a dependent. See sec. 152(a). However, section
152(e)(1) further provides that if a child receives over half of
his support during the calendar year from parents who live apart
at all times during the last 6 months of the calendar year, and
if the child is in the custody of one or both his parents for
more than one-half of the calendar year, then the child is
treated as receiving over half of his support during the year
from the parent having custody for a greater portion of the
calendar year. The regulations provide: "In the event of so-
called 'split' custody, or if neither a decree or agreement
establishes who has custody, * * * 'custody' will be deemed to be
with the parent who, as between both parents, has the physical
custody of the child for the greater portion of the calendar
year." Sec. 1.152-4(b), Income Tax Regs. Section 152(e)(2)
provides an exception to this rule where the custodial parent
releases his claim to the exemption.
During the years in issue, petitioner and Ms. Baker did not
reside together, and they provided over one-half of Derrell's and
Travis' support. Petitioner contends that Derrell and Travis
resided with him for part of the years in issue. However,
petitioner has not provided convincing evidence that demonstrates
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