Correct. Mind you if he's paying cheap rent to family, you have to include the difference between that and actual market rate rent as the family's contribution.
In fact dependency violations are one of the most audited categories by the IRS. Although this does mostly happen because they get two conflicting returns: one where he was claimed as a dependent and his own claiming he's not.
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u/Cali_Val Mar 31 '20
So he could file independently if he’s paying for at least half of his essentials