Do you have shared custody? If you are not a custodial parent you may not be able to claim anything... in which case you should have paid less than half considering that the custodial parent would be able to claim the expense and reduce the total cost to both of you.
Example: Dentist charges $7000.
Other parent has custody and has a marginal tax rate of 25% approx.
This means when the parent pays and claims it, they will get back $1750.
This effectively reduces the cost of the braces to $5250.
If you agree to pay half, you should pay the custodial parent $2625, rather than $3500.
This is what is described in section 7 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines. The other option if you are capable of working together, is that you pay the full $3500 but she splits the tax refund for the braces with you when she receives it.
If you have shared custody or are the custodial parent, you can simply claim it as medical expenses for the year the expense was incurred in, provided you have the receipt.
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