<p>OK up and coming senior which means college which means completing the FAFSA in the New Year. Although I am really confused on who to use for it.</p>
<p>So basically I lived with my mom and grandmother until I was 9. I saw my father on the weekends. At this time my mother was a heroin addict and my grandmother mainly provided care for me. When I was 9 we had a terrible house fire where we lost most of our possessions. My mother ended up going to jail for a few years and I chose to live with my grandmother over my father as she was really there for me all my life. </p>
<p>Fast forward a few years where my dad was brought to court for child support, which he complies to. I still see him, although not as often. My mother is out of jail and has been sober going on 5 years, thankfully. Despite this I still live with my grandmother. During her time in jail she wrote a note saying my grandmother had temporary custody in order for her (my grandmother) to get welfare benefits with me.</p>
<p>Long story short I do not live with either parent. I am on my grandmother's welfare thanks to the note but there was never a court transfer of custody. My father pays child support but I hardly see him. The only income my mother receives is the Social Security from her deceased child's father. My grandmother also only receives the child support (she stood in court instead of my mother because she was incarcerated) and her Social Security as she is retired. </p>
<p>Although I am personally fine with my highly unusual family, I am still confused about who to fill out my FAFSA with.
Help is appreciated greatly!</p>
<p>You wouldn’t put grandparent unless they were a legal guardian. tHat is done in court only, not by note. tHat would have been the best/easiest for you maybe. tHen you would be considered independent for financial aid and only put yourself.</p>
<p>Since parents are divorced, you only put one. You put the parent you lived with most during the previous year. or you put the one that gave the most support if you didn’t live with one more.</p>
<p>That’s all I know about it. There are a few ppl who work with the the process like @kelsmom see if she answers.</p>
<p>It’s exactly as @BrownParent indicated, and it’s not as complicated as it seems:</p>
<p>(1) Use the parent you lived with the most; or
(2) If you lived with both parents equally (or didn’t live with either), you use the parent who provided the most support.</p>
<p>The answer: your parent for FAFSA purposes is your father.</p>
<p>But I agree that it would also perhaps be easiest for you if your mother and grandmother went to court to have your grandmother declared your legal guardian. If that’s done before you turn 18, then you’d be independent for FAFSA purposes.</p>
<p>Good luck to you!!! :)</p>
<p>I agree with Dodgersmom. Be aware that though your father is the custodial parent for FAFSA purposes, he does not have to cooperate in many if not most states. You might want to check out what the rules are for child support for you state and your situation. But your father does not have to fill out FAFSA if he does not wish to do so. It’s not like court ordered childs support financials that have to be completed or go to jail. </p>
<p>I should mention that everyone is fine with my grandmother getting custody of me for all intents and purposes. Would that just be the best option? </p>
<p>If you are under 18, and can get it done, it would put you in the least complicated situation. Your father can refuse to give out his financial information. Or he can make enough so that you are not eligible for aid but refuse to pay. </p>
<p>Yes you would be in a better position. Like cpt says, the way it is now, if you father won’t fill FAFSA you may be out of luck for aid (however you may get an override in your situation, not sure and no guarantees.) Also, for Federal Pell Grant and FAFSA schools, it will be your father’s income that determines aid eligibility and calculating how much you have to pay. If you are in a court ordered guardianship, you are independent for financial aid and just file your own income and assets and no one else’s count. But if your father is cooperative and files his taxes and will fill out the FAFSA or let you do it for him each year for 4 years, and he is very low income it may not make any difference.</p>
<p>Is it possible to fill out a FAFSA w/o providing tax returns?</p>
<p>Yes, one can fill out a FAFSA w/o providing tax returns. BUt because of the IRS retrieval tools that are now in place, if one has filed a tax return, verification is often automaticallly done. If not yet done, there’s a chance that one won’t get the aid until the taxes are filed , verification done. If taxes do not have to filed, then there is the chance that other verification has to be provided. </p>
<p>In other words, there is a chance that you won’t get the aid without providing the returns or allowing the fin aid office to do the verification. But you can fill out the FAFSA w/o providing the returns. A lot of people do with estimated numbers and then correct with actual. The problem can arise when it comes to getting the aid money without verification with returns.</p>
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<p>But what if parents don’t file tax returns at all?</p>
<p>When you fill out FAFSA, it asks right out if you file tax returns. For those who do not, the answer is “no”, and one answers the questions without the return. The chances are then pretty good that some verification of the numbers are going to be requested. If the numbers are such that that a tax return should have been filed, that can come up as a flag as well.But there are people who don’t have to file a return for any number of reasons. A citizen with parents who are non resident, non citizen may well not have to file a US tax return, for example. Those who don’t make any money don’t either. But if the issue is one where the parents have not filed when they should have, and if this comes during the fin aid process, well, the student may not get aid. </p>
<p>Even though Op lives with grandmother, when going into legal guardianship, if he no longer wants to or cannot live with his mother, his father is still his legal next of kin. What OP would be asking the court is for dad to give up his legal rights to his child. This may also mean that dad would no longer be obligated to pay child support or contribute to college.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that being an independent student for Federal aid, may not necessarily make you independent for institutional based aid. If Op is looking at deep pocket schools,they will want copies of the guardianship documentation. OP may only be guardianship or even joint custody between dad and grandma to the extent that he lives day to day with his grandmother to attend high school and she makes the day to day decisions regarding him as a minor child and the father still pays child support. </p>
<p>The school may still ask for information from non-custodial parent information as divorced parents may know, schools do not care that the court states what a parent has to or does not have to pay.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the replies.</p>
<p>Update: so my grandmother went down to family court and got details. She, my mother, and my father have to go down one morning to sign papers and then pay a fee of $350. I don’t know how willing my father would be to this. Should I still push for it? </p>
<p>Yes…find a way to come up with that 350. It will be worth more than that to you in the long run. </p>
<p>Also, call the court and see if they will waive the fee or reduce it for low income people. </p>
<p>While obtaining guardianship may make op independent for federal aid, but not necessarily institutional aid. </p>
<p>I think that we are oversimplifying the “go to the court and obtain guardianship” route.
There is a difference between a parent being stripped of guardianship by the court order, due to parent being unfit, abuse or danger to the child and the guardianship vs. parties come together to make agreements where parent willing give up guardianship in order for a student to achieve financial aid. Keep in mind that you may end up with guardianship, that you physically live with your grandmother, with visitation and support by your father, not really changing your financial situation.</p>
<p>In this case, you are asking that the court strip your dad of all of his legal rights where he has done nothing wrong, which courts are not easily willing to do without cause. </p>
<p>Schools will want to know the details as to why the student is in guardianship. Schools are also going to look at the timing of agreements.</p>
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This is not the case - the dad would be consenting to the guardianship. In the absence of any objection, there’s no reason for the court not to approve the guardianship.</p>
<p>As for why this student is in a guardianship, I think the family’s history speaks for itself. The OP has lived with his grandmother for half his life - it makes sense for her to be appointed his guardian.</p>
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This is exactly what I would have recommended. Ask - the worst that can happen is they’ll say no.</p>
<p>Op does not want to use his fathers financial aid info so he can be independent. If op gets legal guardianship and dad still had to pay child support that is not going to change his situation for schools that require additional information to give their own institutional aid. The courts
May end up only placing a temporary guardianship. While this may help his federal aid it may not help with institutional aid. Depending on how much dad makes n where he wants to go he may end up better using dad’s info. He should sit with dad and run info through net price calculator</p>