I've been divorced over 15 years now. My daughter is going to a university this fall (US/AZ) and some of the documents she is filling out require my income and 1040 info. This is information I do not want my ex nor my daughter to see or know. What have you done to get around this scenario?
Posted Jan 8, 2021, 7:31 PM UTC
FAFSA or CSS? Are you custodial parent?
I believe fafsa and she's 19 now but lives with her mother out of state (CA).
FAFSA does not require any info from the non custodial parent. The school may use the CSS profile, in which case you fill out the NCP Profile. Or they may have their own paperwork. If thy have their own forms you can end your info separately.
I’m custodial parent. I do FAFSA with my kids. Their dad does the NCP profile on his own and neither I nor kids see anything on it. My 18yo and I did an appeal last spring and they asked for current income info. her dad and I sent it separately, financial aid dude didn’t blink an eye.
There may be some outside need based scholarships that require tax forms and don’t use the IRS retrieval tool. If you don’t want to provide that info for those, you will be basically screwing your kids chances.My oldest kid is loan free a top university because if her outside scholarships.
FWIW, if my ex refused the financial info our kids needed for aid applications, I’d assuming he was lying to me about his income. I’d file for a support evaluation and then he’d be compelled to provide that info anyway (as would I). Our youngest still has over a year until she ages out.
If it's for FAFSA, the household with the lowest income should be filing. It doesn't matter who claims the child on taxes FYI. FAFSA is interesting in that it will include stepparents income, so in order to get the most money available, use the lower income household.
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My ex-wife files for our daughter's financial aid (FAFSA?) since she claims my daughter on her taxes. I do not see her 1040 and I don't think our daughter does.
Interestingly, my income (I am a high income earner) is not taken into account for financial aid and my daughter qualified for scholarships and grants based on my ex wife's income. My wife just started working a part time job late in 2019 which is over 2 years since our divorce became final. She didn't make hardly any money aside from the alimony she received.
Do you know if 529 plans are taken into account in FAFSA? My daughter's 529 plan is in my name but my ex was adamant she had to report it under FAFSA
I was looking at the online application and it was asking for 1040 info. I have no problem sending this info to the school, but it's not info I want to share with my ex at all.
I would call the admissions office and make sure ex won't have access to it. I am sure they have dealt with this situation before in handling personal identifiable information.
Even though you submit your tax info, who claims the child has no bearing on FAFSA. I claim my child every year on taxes. My ex is single and makes less so he files the FAFSA since his income is lower.
I've never seen the info he's submitted for FAFSA.
That's good to know. I would save a couple grand by having head of household instead of single
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Parent and student owned 529s are taken into account on the FAFSA. It is part of the parent asset question set.
Thanks for clarifying