Lyndell Scott Hegwood - Page 4




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               Petitioner and the mother of the three dependent children              
          have been living together for more than 10 years, and petitioner            
          provides the primary support for the household, which includes              
          the dependent children.  Mississippi abolished common-law                   
          marriage in 1956, Miss. Code Ann. sec. 93-1-15(1) (1999), and the           
          living arrangement of petitioner and the mother is illegal under            
          Mississippi law, Miss. Code Ann. sec. 97-29-1 (1999); see also              
          Davis v. Davis, 643 So. 2d 931 (Miss. 1994); Sullivan v.                    
          Stringer, 736 So. 2d 514 (Miss. Ct. App. 1999).  Petitioner does            
          not claim a dependency exemption for the mother, and correctly              
          so.  See Turnipseed v. Commissioner, 27 T.C. 758 (1957).                    
          However,  petitioner asserts that his living arrangement with the           
          children does not violate Mississippi law, and that continuation            
          of this arrangement should be encouraged.                                   
               Petitioner has cared for the mother’s children as his own              
          and claimed them as his foster children since 1991.  Petitioner             
          asserts that the State of Mississippi accepts these children as             
          his foster children, citing as evidence the high school record of           
          one of the children showing the names of both petitioner and the            
          mother as “Parent/Guardian” of the child in question, with the              
          relationship between petitioner and the child labeled “F-Father”.           
          Petitioner also asserts that no one else claims the children as             
          dependents or foster children for tax purposes, and that the                








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