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descendant of such child, or is a brother, sister, stepbrother,
or stepsister of the taxpayer or a descendant of any such
relative. Sec. 152(c)(1) and (2). The two children claimed as
dependents by petitioner do not fall within any of the
relationship requirements of section 152(c) described above since
petitioner and the mother of the children were not married in
2005. Hence, the children do not qualify as stepchildren of
petitioner. Therefore, the Court holds that petitioner is not
entitled to the dependency exemption deductions for the two
children of the woman with whom he lived during the year at
issue, and respondent’s determination is sustained.3
Head of Household Filing Status
The second issue is whether petitioner is entitled to head
of household filing status under section 2(b)(1).
3 Sec. 152(a)(2) allows a “qualifying relative” as a
dependent. Sec. 152(d)(2)(H) defines a qualifying relative as an
individual who has the same principal place of abode as the
taxpayer and is a member of the taxpayer’s household. At trial,
petitioner did not assert that the two children were qualifying
relatives, nor did he present any evidence to establish that he
provided more than one-half of the total support for the two
children. Petitioner, the children, and their mother lived in an
apartment in which petitioner was a co-tenant with another
individual. It appears from the record that the cotenant paid at
least half of the rent for the apartment. No evidence was
presented to establish the total amount of support provided to
the two children for the year at issue. A taxpayer who cannot
establish the total amount of support provided to a claimed
dependent generally may not claim that individual as a dependent.
Blanco v. Commissioner, 56 T.C. 512, 514-515 (1971).
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