Nichole Laid Off :(

[Hound dog]

Well.......it finally happened. Some idiot didn't leave the heater on in the plant over the shut down for the holidays and the wax froze, not in the vats, they have their own heaters, but in the pipes all over the plant. Nichole was notified she is laid off.

It is supposed to be just for 2 weeks. But who knows? I told her she is their absolute best temp worker. She'll be the 1st to be called back I'm sure. I mean her temp company raves about her, and the bosses in the plant rave about her. I'm so proud of her for working so hard.

I know she's worried sick. Her income is what is supporting them. She's got unemployment going, but she didn't work there but several months...so I dunno how long it's going to last. If she had to she could get welfare after that....but not with boyfriend there. Hmmm, maybe God has a plan? lol Welfare would expect him to go out and work.

Nichole called me last week and said only 1 of us could claim Aubrey for the year as a tax credit. husband is claiming Nichole for half the year. Which he should as she was here until Sept. actually. I told Nichole she could claim Aubrey. But now husband has to go waaaay back and see how we did this with easy child. We claimed her half the year the year she moved out, and I know Darrin was born in Dec of that year and they claimed him........And husband is having a major tantrum over Nichole claiming Aubrey saying it's going to mess everything up.

I'm trying hard not to think about taxes. husband did not take Nichole and Aubrey off his deductables way back when I told him to. Claiming Nichole for only 6 months is going to hurt us terribly. If it turns out we can't claim her at all if she claims Aubrey for the child credit......people we are going to be in trouble.

I don't want to argue with her over it. Normally, I'd make sure we weren't hurt in the process. In all honesty, Nichole was here until Sept. She didn't even start working until August or July. We supported both her and Aubrey nearly the whole darn year. And I'd make her give it to us.

But she's broke, unemployed and scared to death. And I just don't have the heart to do it to her. If it puts us in the hole I can deal with it with my FASFA refund for spring.......of course that kills me getting my teeth worked on and the half other dozen things I also need to use it for.

ARGH! I hope they call her back quickly.

 

[witzend]

I'm sorry, Lisa. Any chance she might go back to school and/or take her tests? It seems like the right time of year for it. Or am I confused?

 

[KTMom91]

I'm so sorry, Lisa. I've been in that same position too many times. Hugs for you and Nichole.

 

[Suz]

That's a real shame. I hope they call her back soon.

Suz

 

[Hound dog]

Welfare may pay her to go back to school. This means if she registers as a full time student they would let her have a monthly check and food stamps and insurance. But the quarter has already started. She'd have to wait until spring quarter to do that. And still, boyfriend would have to move out. Like I said, they expect him to work. But the work/college thing they did for K. And I know they still do it as they were doing it for a fellow nursing student.

I'm going to call her tomorrow and tell her to go to community action and see what can be done for her utilities. That will be one less worry.

Irks me no end as boyfriend has no reason not to work. None. He's just not working because he wants to milk unemployment. He can draw his check AND they pay for his school. While he could make good money working for his Dad at the bank. grrr His Dad has been begging the boy to come work for them.

 

[DammitJanet]

Run it by a tax accountant but I dont think you can take a dependent for half a year. Its a full year or nothing. They may just ask on the form how many months she lived in the house but that is to decide if she is eligible for being your dependent. It doesnt mean she can claim herself on the other form. Only one of you can claim her. They dont split it 50 50.

This will be a strange tax return but you may be able to claim Aubrey to get the EITC, even if you dont claim her as a dependent, if it gives you the bigger refund. Might want to check that out. Run things through the tax programs all ways to see.

 

[busywend]

Sorry to hear Nicole was affected by this layoff. I hope they call her back.

Janet is right as far as I know you can not claim a person for half the year. The half the year living arrangement does qualify one as a dependent. I need more information to recommend anything else to you. Nicole's income amount makes a big difference on her filing requirements. Her age, if she is in school still....a lot of factors come into play.

 

[donna723]

Lisa, I am so sorry that Nichol got laid off. It's happened to my son a few times too and I know it makes it really rough. If it's from some problem with the equipment at the plant and if they consider her to be that valuable, hopefully this should be just temporary. And I'm no tax expert either, but I don't think you can claim someone for half a year either - it's all or nothing. To claim them, you have to have supported them for a certain number of months, but they don't do 'halves'.

I keep wondering how long she is going to put up with supporting boyfriend's lazy butt while he does nothing but criticize and complain while contributing nothing! Maybe this will be the incentive she needs to kick him to the curb? We can always hope ...

 

[susiestar]

As Nichole only worked for a few months, chances are her taxes will be almost nil. You need to sit down WITH Nichole and do the taxes - yours AND hers. Freefile through www.irs.gov will let you do this for free.

You cannot claim a deduction for half the year. Legally, she lived with you and was supported by you for over 6 months of the year so she is your deductible and so is Aubrey. This will make a HUGE difference on YOUR taxes, and a small one on hers.

What we did the years we lived with my parents (husband was working and I couldn't because difficult child crud meant he needed a 24/7 parent who could drop and run with no notice.) was that we did our taxes claiming ourselves and the kids. Then we did them not claiming anyone. Then not claiming the kids but claiming us.

My parents did theirs claiming us, claiming just my kids, and claiming none of us. Every year it worked out best to have them claim us and the kids. They gave us the amt we would have gotten as a refund if we had claimed all of us.

They still benefited by thousands of dollars. It is NOT hard to figure this up. Just put the info into the software. If husband cannot handle then you and Nichole need to sit down and work it out.

You cannot legally claim someone for only 1/2 the year. At least we were not allowed to when we moved out of my parents'.

 

[Star*]

Just sending more hugs Lisa. When opportunity doesn't knock? Build a door.

(sends hammer, nails and lumber)

 

[XerSib]

Let's hope the plant is back in action soon!

 

[Hound dog]

Nichole and husband will just have to sort out the tax issue. Seems now that she's out of work husband isn't grumbling so much about it. I've got my own problems trying to catch up with school work.....so my mind is just so not there for this sort of thing.

Nichole came over today to borrow the computer and make some phone calls. She only has a cell and hasn't had money to buy minutes. She told husband that her manager at the plant told her to call the temp co in about a week and start harrassing them to get her back to work. So that sounds awfully good.

Poor girl is almost in panic mode. She called community action.......she called welfare about food stamps and the like....she attempted to get unemployment kicked in but their website is being a major PITA so she has to work on that again tomorrow. Their scanner wasn't accepting her ss card. Welfare sent her to the food bank. Interesting as they've been down to bare bones for months.......wanted her to do that first, but the time she stood in line there half the day, welfare said it was to late to start the process for emergency food stamps and she'd have to come back in the morning. Community Action will give her some help with the utilities. Now she just has to figure out how to pay her rent.

Nichole has been babysitting for easy child during the layover time between when sister in law goes to work and easy child gets home from work. And on the weekends easy child works. easy child was supposed to pay Nichole for this time. It's been a few months and Nichole hasn't seen a dime. easy child is not so good about paying family for services rendered. (I warned Nichole that was one reason I stopped watching the boys regularly) Nichole has had me ask easy child several times about payment for the babysitting.....which easy child always says she intends to pay. I've been pushing Nichole to do this herself but she's afraid of making easy child mad at her. Need has changed this and Nichole is pressing easy child to pay up in full. By now it may be enough to cover Nichole's rent......a big OUCH for easy child but if she'd paid all along she wouldn't be caught now. I don't feel sorry for her.

There are some meals that I make that I only know how to make for large amts of people. Normally husband and I are eating leftovers until we begin to gag on them. lol So when I make these meals now....I'm going to invite the kids over to dinner. We'll still have left overs and they'll get a good free meal.

I'm being forced to think of what I'm going to do if Nichole becomes homeless. And honestly, I don't have an answer. husband and I are just squeaking by ourselves....and sometimes those last couple of days before his unemployment check arrives are desperate. We'd probably get assistance to some degree if she moved back in....but our utilities would triple again and we seriously just can't do that. Not to mention that her bedroom is now the livingroom......it doesn't even have a door on it. lol (yes, I did that for a reason)

easy child has room, but I could see WWIII breaking out within a week. The kids all get along but easy child and sister in law could not tolerate boyfriend drama for long without losing it.

I'm praying hard she goes back to work. Also we have the census place trying to hire people down at the school. I'm going to snatch up 2 applications, one for husband and one for Nichole......pays 13.50 and hour! Meant to pick it up today and forgot.