Only one parent can claim the children as dependents on their taxes if the parents are unmarried. Either unmarried parent is entitled to the exemption, so long as they support the child. Typically, the best way to decide which parent should claim the child is to determine which parent has the higher income.Split the tax benefits of child dependents between two parents. Only one person can claim a dependent on his tax return, but this doesn't mean that two parents can't both claim certain tax breaks that are associated with their child dependent. The custodial parent just has to agree to the arrangement.The person can't be a qualifying child dependent of you or another person. That means you can't claim the person if someone else could. The person must be either related to you or must have lived with you all year as a member of your household.In the case of divorced, separated, or never married parents, the custodial parent typically has first dibs on legally being able to claim a child as a dependent for tax purposes. That's because the dependent deduction goes to the parent with whom the child lived most during the year.

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