Purpose: Determining who has the right to claim the dependency exemption (Chapter 4) is not always cut and dry, especially when the parents are not married, or the child does not live with a parent. (Course Objective 2, Learning outcomes 4-2) "21. How do two taxpayers determine who has priority to claim a person as a dependent if the person is a qualifying child of two taxpayers when neither taxpayer is a parent of the child (assume the child does not qualify as a qualifying child for either parent)?" Question: How do two taxpayers determine who has priority to claim the dependency exemption for a qualifying child of both taxpayers when neither taxpayer is a parent of the child (assume the child does not qualify as a qualifying child of either parent)? How do parents determine who gets to deduct the dependency exemption for a qualifying child of both parents when the parents are divorced or file separate returns?.