Technically no... your not allowed to claim the child.

If I was in your shoes? Yes. I would claim the child. But only if your sure she will not be able to claim the child.

Tread carefully. Some things to think about...

• If she claims she is self employed and filed a fraudulent claim and claims the child. Illegal? Yes. But seeing as there is an order of court allowing her to claim the child they most likely won’t look into her refund initially. The burden would be on you to disprove the order of court.

• Contempt of court. You technically violated the order. I’m not sure how vindictive she is but this is certainly a possibility if she is.

• She might want a cut of the proceeds. Again not sure how much you trust her but she can easily agree to this and them go the contempt route.

• If she lets someone else claim them. You’ll both get audited and you’ll win. More of a nuisance but something to prepare for.

Your best bet is having a frank conversation with her and hash out that when she isn’t working you’ll claim the children.

You could also file a motion asking for a modification of the order asking to allow you the right to claim both children if she isn’t working and vice versa. It would be hard for her to argue against that in court if she isn’t working. Hopefully the judge won’t make you go through some sort of custody conciliation to just modify a small part of the order.