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stipulations agreed to by the parties. The Temporary Orders
conferred joint custody of the children on Ms. Miller and Mr.
Lovejoy but designated Ms. Miller "the primary residential
custodian for the children". The Temporary Orders were silent
regarding which party was authorized to claim the dependency
exemptions for the children.
Following several days of testimony in a contested divorce
proceeding, the State court issued Permanent Orders on January
24, 1994, nunc pro tunc November 12, 1993, granting Ms. Miller
sole custody of the children. The Permanent Orders also provided
that Mr. Lovejoy "shall claim both of [the] children on his tax
returns as exemptions". The Permanent Orders were not signed by
Ms. Miller. However, they were executed by the State court judge
and were also signed by the attorneys for Ms. Miller and Mr.
Lovejoy under a caption that read “APPROVED AS TO FORM”.
In accordance with the Permanent Orders, Mr. Lovejoy claimed
dependency exemptions for both children on his 1993 and 1994
Federal income tax returns. However, he did not attach a
completed Form 8332 signed by Ms. Miller to either of the
returns. Instead, Mr. Lovejoy attached some portion of the
3(...continued)
debts, use of property, custody, maintenance, child support, or
attorney's fees during the pendency of divorce or separation
proceedings. Colo. Rev. Stat. sec. 14-10-108 (1998).
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