YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) -- The beer you drink says a lot about you -- even before you've had a few too many. Your choice of beer can be as telling about your personality as what kind of clothing you wear or the car that you drive.
In fact, your support must be at least half of the cost of what it takes to keep her comfortable. That cost includes any money spent on items as various as food, shelter, clothing, and medical care. If your support is not at least 50% of the total, you cannot claim your parent as your dependent.
Divorced parents cannot split the tax deduction for a child. The Internal Revenue Service published guidelines for who can claim a dependent child, and those guidelines do offer some flexibility in who can claim the deductions. However, the custodial parent is the one who can claim the deduction in most cases. If you are a divorced parent with joint custody of a child, learn all of the options for tax deductions.