Unmarried

• The first criterion for head of household status is that on the last day of the year you must be either unmarried or "considered unmarried," which is similar to separation. To be considered unmarried your spouse must have maintained a residence other than your home for the last six months of the year, and your home must have been the main home of a qualifying child that is either your child, stepchild or foster child during that time.
  
  

Keeping Up a Home

• The justification for the head of household status is that, as the head of household, your tax obligations should reflect that you spend money to support people other than yourself. You must, in fact, pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the entire year. The cost of keeping up a home includes payment of rent or mortgage, utilities, repairs, property insurance, the cost of food eaten on the premises and other similar household expenses.
  
  

More Than Half the Year

• The third essential requirement for head of household status, and the one most commonly raised by joint custody, is that you must provide for your qualifying child for more than half the year. If your spouse has primary custody, he can file as head of household. But if custody is shared equally, neither spouse will technically meet the more-than-half-the-year requirement. There is usually some difference in custody, and the rule requires only anything more than half of the year to claim head of household status.
  
  

Exceptions

• There are a few exceptions to this more-than-six-month requirement that might be applicable to joint custody. One is for dependent children away at school or otherwise temporarily away from home because of illness, business, military service, vacation or special circumstances. Another exception is for children who die or are kidnapped during the tax year. When the six-month-plus requirement does not apply to a qualifying child, either, but not both, parents can file as head of household.
  
  

Compromises

• Rather than simply forgo the head of household benefit, attempt a compromise. For example, you and your spouse can stipulate in your divorce decree that you will alternate claiming the status from year to year. If there is more than one child to the marriage, each spouse can claim head of household status on the basis of support provided to one or more of the children. Or one of the spouses may be eligible to file for head of household due to a qualifying person other than a child from the marriage or may not be able to claim that status after remarriage or failure to keep up a home. In these cases, though custody of a child is shared roughly equally, only one spouse can file as head of household.