<p>Pehaps, Op realized that s/he did something wrong and does not want to be accused of fraud and is trying to correct it.</p>
<p>So if I have a kid, say 17 year old, could I go to court and have guardianship legally changed to say my brother? How easy is this? Sounds like a good way to get an EFC of 0. </p>
<p>Maybe I could do this with another college parent, we’ll just swap kids via guardianship to get both our kids EFC = 0.</p>
<p>If this is true, sounds like a new way to scam the system. (Not implying anything on the OP’s situation, just wondering about the whole guardianship deal with FA).</p>
<p>You can’t just go to court and have guardianship legally changed. The court is under no obligation to approve your petition, and courts do not like taking kids away from their parents.</p>
<p>There has to be some really extenuating circumstances and a ton of documentation before a court places a child in legal guardianship, because they first and foremost want to keep the family in tact and will do what they believe is in the best interest of the child. Unless the court initiates the action, it could also be a very expensive process (attorneys, psychologists, social workers).</p>
<p>Usually one of the following may have to happen; a parent is physically (death of a parent, parent extremely ill, incarcerated, rehab, etc) or mentally incapable of caring for a child, history of abuse or endangering the welfare of the child, child remanded to foster care, correctional facility, mental facility (even in the case the child is remanded to a mental or correctional facility, the parent is not always stripped of their rights).</p>
<p>To say that your child is out of control, and you want them out of your house would not be grounds for legal guardianship as the court would tell the parent to fill out a PINS (person in need of supervision) petition and then provide individual/group or family counseling and have ACS oversee the situation.</p>
<p>Just another perspective… we took temporary legal guardianship of two 17 year old hockey players last year so that they could live with us, enroll in our public high school to finish their senior year and play junior hockey far away from home. I had to go to probate court and swear that we would take care of them physically, emotionally, financially, etc. indefinitely, but not permanently. In our situation we knew that their parents were still ultimately responsible if anything happened, but would not be able to enroll them in school or be there to admit them to the hospital if anything happened.</p>
<p>I think there are many different types of guardianship (perfectly legal and otherwise) and the OP doesn’t say at this point that his birth parents gave him up “permanently”… there must be more to the story. When I first read this post, I imagined that it might be “appointed by parental consent” for a specific reason… be it sports, poor health, etc. I’m sure that some Olympic bound athletes do this all the time.</p>
<p>But being classified as an independent student for FA purposes would be an entirely separate decision. Otherwise as a previous poster said, everyone would do it and it’s pretty easy to do, as I discovered.</p>
<p>I assume the reason the student is having FAFSA issues is because he/she is answering yes to being in legal guardianship. Since this is not a FAFSA-type guardianship situation, the fix is simple. Update the answer to the question from no to yes. You will then be prompted for parent information … and it must be your PARENT’S info you enter, NOT your guardian’s. That is how it works.</p>
<p>What if your “guardian” claimed you in their 2010 tax return? I’m in similar situation with OP</p>
<p>Who claims you on their taxes is completely irrelevant for FAFSA.</p>