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In Neal, the taxpayer, a noncustodial parent who had claimed
dependency exemptions for all three of his children on his
Federal income tax returns for the years at issue, supported his
claim to the exemptions by attaching Forms 8332 (one for each
child) and copies of the Decree of Dissolution and a State court
order amending the decree. The decree as amended by the related
order granted him the right to claim the dependency exemption for
one of his children but was silent with respect to the other two
children. The Forms 8332 were not signed by the custodial
parent. He made no effort to obtain the signature of the
custodial parent on the Forms 8332 or on any other document that
might qualify as their substantive equivalent. The taxpayer in
Neal relied on publications of the IRS which, he claimed,
required only that the noncustodial parent attach to his returns
a copy of the decree or order granting him the right to claim the
dependency exemption for his child. The publications were not
introduced into evidence. Based on certain testimony in the
case, we assumed without deciding that the IRS’s publications
required the custodial parent to sign the pertinent decree or
agreement. We concluded that, since neither the Forms 8332 nor
the decree and order were signed by the custodial parent, the
taxpayer did not satisfy the requirements of section 152(e)(2).
Unlike the taxpayer in Neal, Mr. Lovejoy does not rely on
any IRS publication to support his claim to the dependency
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