FAFSA: Do you have to submit both parents' financials if one has more than 50% custody?

[Anonymous]

Ex will be paying half of college costs but does not have 50% physical or legal custody. The advice I got from the school counselor was that I don't have to submit ex's income on FAFSA forms for college financial aid. My divorced friend said the same. FAFSA website seems to say this as well. But, that doesn't seem like it could be the right answer. Ex makes much more than me and child appears much poorer than she really is under this scenario. If that's the system, by golly I'll do it, but it's really unfair to married parents filing these forms.

Can a parent of a college-age child with more than 50% custody chime in with their FAFSA experience?

[Anonymous]

I don't think my husband's ex declared him. We have no idea what kind of aid the kids got as the ex and kids always lie to him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think my husband's ex declared him. We have no idea what kind of aid the kids got as the ex and kids always lie to him.

Does he have any % custody of the kids or are they completely estranged? Is there a court ordered custody agreement that his ex might have used as proof of her sole custody? Did he end up paying any of the college costs?

[Anonymous]

For what it's worth, here's what I remember (note: I was a child with divorced parents who had to fill out the FAFSA years ago but my kids aren't quite child age yet. I did ask my lawyer about this a few years ago during the divorce though)

It's only about who the child lives with the majority of the year. They don't care about what custody agreements say or who pays what or anything, it's simply about who the child lives with more than 50% of the time. That household is what gets put down for FAFSA purposes.

[Anonymous]

PP from above, I meant my kids aren't COLLEGE age, not child age. Ugh. I shouldn't post when I'm this tired. I did ask my lawyer this exact question a few years ago though, and what I posted was his response. He was divorced with college aged kids at the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think my husband's ex declared him. We have no idea what kind of aid the kids got as the ex and kids always lie to him.

Does he have any % custody of the kids or are they completely estranged? Is there a court ordered custody agreement that his ex might have used as proof of her sole custody? Did he end up paying any of the college costs?

Joint custody but mom refused visitation despite going to court. Judge would order it, mom refused and no consequences. He paid child support and extras. Two older kids continued on child support and alimony for several years after it should have been done to be decent. Mom should have declared the child getting child support monthly after 18 but I do not think she did. Eventually at one of the hearings the judge completely redid the order after two kids were over 19 and alimony was long over (but he still paid it) and redid it only for the youngest. Mom was pissed but she started the child support hearing demanding more money since we had just gotten married. Kids did not know he paid as she told them he did not pay child support. I am assuming they lied and said child was not getting support when they were.

If you are getting child support after 18, you probably need to declare it. They do not check for accuracy as we never got called. The risk of no disclosure is probably very low.

[Anonymous]

DH's kids have filled out the FAFSA forms multiple times over the years. They have never had to include his info. Their mom has primary physical custody and use her financial info. Works to their benefit since she's never remarried so only her income counts and I don't think she makes that much money. All it gets them is some federal loans though. Nothing major. Second kid was lucky enough to get a pell grant one year but other than that, just loans.

[Anonymous]

For FAFSA, the child submits the information of the parent who is with the child physically more throughout the year, regardless of what legal or custody agreements stay.

However, other posters are right that FAFSA usually only gives Pell and federal loans. If the student is looking at schools with more substantial aid (usually private schools), those schools will normally require the CSS profile and the information of both parents. That's the situation that usually ends up unfair for kids with divorced parents-- when the noncustodial parent has a much higher income, the school expects the NCP to pay, but the NCP refuses to.

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah...I meant to add to my post what PP mentioned. Even though FAFSA may not ask for the income of the non-custodial parent, the individual schools can when it starts getting down to the nitty gritty of the financial aid package.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For FAFSA, the child submits the information of the parent who is with the child physically more throughout the year, regardless of what legal or custody agreements stay.

However, other posters are right that FAFSA usually only gives Pell and federal loans. If the student is looking at schools with more substantial aid (usually private schools), those schools will normally require the CSS profile and the information of both parents. That's the situation that usually ends up unfair for kids with divorced parents-- when the noncustodial parent has a much higher income, the school expects the NCP to pay, but the NCP refuses to.

There are many reasons why a NCP would refuse to pay. Parents in most states are not obligated to pay. Its nice to pay, the right thing to do to pay, but in divorced situations, it gets tricky, especially if the child does not have a relationship with the NCP.