It's tax time again...and time to fight with my ex

It's tax time again, which means it's time for the annual fight with my ex-husband. He keeps claiming the kids, even though he SHOULD NOT. Sometimes, I get my return in before him, but usually not. How he gets his return in so early is beyond me. I was able to claim the last year, but I have been fighting and appealing for 2012 and 2013. They approved 2012 and denied 2013, even though they were exactly the same. M'Kay. Someone just didn't feel like doing their job and denied it. Had to file an appeal in Tax Court. Waiting to hear back from the Appeals Officer has been nerve-wracking. 

A little background: We have three children together. He went into the Navy when our oldest daughter was about a year old. He cheated on me....a lot. I had A LOT of suspicions, but I never had the "smoking gun", so to speak. We moved to Guam with the Navy. Our youngest daughter was born there. He would spend thousands of dollars (not even joking) at strip clubs. I had to control all of the money or he would blow every penny. I found out later that he has a sex addiction. One day, he decided he would rather hang out with his single "boat buddies" and said he wanted the kids and I to leave. So, myself and our three small children headed back to the states, and he got to whore around to his heart's content. He re-married, had another daughter and tried to play the role of father and husband again. He lasted for a couple years, but she caught him sleeping with women in Craigslist sex ads. They divorced, and his 2nd ex-wife and I are actually friends. He is on his third wife, and she is quite a doozie. She is one of the Craigslist sex ad women. They do the whole "swinging" lifestyle. Lots of gross stuff is on-line about them. Ugh. I could write for days about these two dillholes, but I aint got that kinda time. 


He has the kids' emails, cell phone numbers, etc. I have done nothing but encourage him to have a relationship with his children. He just chooses not to. He has seen them maybe 3 or 4 times in ELEVEN YEARS. He has missed almost every single birthday and holiday. Yet, for some crazy reason, he feels like he deserves to claim the kids on his income taxes. Seriously, dude? Yes, our divorce papers DO say that he can claim them. The only problem for him is for any divorces before 2009, per the IRS rules, the divorce papers have to be very specific. All the divorce papers say is:

Plaintiff (Brian) will be allowed to carry the minor children as tax exemptions or any other tax benefit for as long as they are eligible. Defendant agrees to execute IRS form 8332 or any other documents requested by plaintiff or any taxing authority to execute this provision. 

Our divorce decree does not specifically mention any of the three requirements listed in IRS Publication 504.

I was unaware of this at the time, but I have recently learned that when he initiated the divorce proceedings, Guam did not have jurisdiction. The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) gives "exclusive [and] continuing jurisdiction" to the courts of the child's "home state," which is defined as the state where the child has lived with a parent for six consecutive months prior to the commencement of the proceeding. The children had already lived back in Missouri, our home state, with me for over six months. Soooooo, are we even really divorced? lol

He doesn't provide over 50% of their care (He is behind almost $14,000 in child support at the moment and has been unemployed for many months.) The children don't live with him, and he has zero supporting documents. 

There is a chance that the IRS could side with him because, well, it's the IRS, and they can do whatever they want. 

I am just so ready for this to be over!!