RUMOR: The 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to children born to parents illegally in the U.S. Critics argue that automatic birthright citizenship could be changed by revoking the statute. Others say it would require a constitutional amendment because they believe the 14th Amendment requires birthright citizenship.
Answer: Each child can only be claimed as a dependent by one parent (except when married couples file taxes jointly). Typically, in the case of divorced, separated, or never married parents, it is the custodial parent who is legally able to claim a child as a dependent for tax purposes.
However, the payer of child support may be able to claim the child as a dependent: Generally, the child is the qualifying child of the custodial parent, and the custodial parent is generally allowed to claim a dependency exemption for the child, if the other tests for claiming the exemption are met. The parent with whom the child lived for the greater part of the year is the custodial parent for federal income tax purposes.