Where a parent only has access or visitation rights with his or her child for every other weekend, can the CRA confirm that the parent in question who has, at any time in the year, maintained and inhabited a self-contained domestic establishment in which the parent provided for the child, who was wholly dependent on the parent at that time, may thereby claim the WDPTC in respect of the child in question, assuming that the other conditions are met? CRA responded:
As a general rule, the CRA considers that an individual has a fully dependent child when he or she is responsible for the normal day-to-day activities of raising the child such as ensuring that the child goes to school, has meals, has housing, etc. In other words, the child must live with the parent on the days in question, as opposed to a parent who would only have visitation rights while the child was considered to be living with the other parent.
Thus, the CRA does not consider it absolutely necessary for parents to have legal custody of the child….
…[T]he Income Tax Act…is silent with respect to the number of days the child must spend with a parent so that the parent can take advantage of the credit.