Your filing status should reflect your status on the last day of the year. You should file single, From IRS publication 17. www.irs.gov Divorced persons. If you are divorced under a final decree by the last day of the year, you are considered unmarried for the whole year. If your divorce decree, gives your ex custody, then you can not file as “head of household”. If you have minimal income, let him take the deductions, they are worth more to him than you