CSS form asset question

Paying for College
1

Two questions maybe someone can answer:

  1. Father in law recently passed. A family trust was set up years ago to go to his kids. It has not yet distributed. I was told maybe if lucky by the end of the year. Do I report that on this years form? Do I understand correctly it is not my husbands until it is distributed between the children? Next year I know it is yes. At that time I will list. How can you determine its worth? It looses about 40% or more just to transfer generations. Taxes and fees cannot be determined til complete.
  2. Mother in law is on hospice and is not likely to survive til the New Year. She signed the house deed to the boys when diagnosed with cancer but my understanding is it is still her home until she passes. Is this an asset I would need to list this year? I am guessing not til next year as well. What if she passes between now and being accepted into school.
    Do I need to disclose these assets under special issues?

    Safe to assume even if she got aid next year it would not continue.
    CSS conversation about other questions said information only as it pertains to date filed.
    Any help would be great. Daughter is applying to top tier and ivy. I don’t want these issues to become a problem.
2

If a student or parent who is providing information on CSS Profile is a Trust beneficiary, the beneficiary’s asset value in the Trust as of the date the form is completed must be reported, with a few limited exceptions. If by “it has not yet been distributed” you mean that the Trust has not been funded, then the asset value is currently $0. If you mean that the Trust has been funded but no Trust assets have yet been distributed to the beneficiary, that does not matter – the Trust asset value must be reported if the beneficiary is the student or a parent.

If your mother in law “signed the house deed to the boys,” then she is no longer the legal owner of the house. She may have the right to live there until she dies, but it is no longer her house. So yes, the equity value of the house would need to be reported on Profile according to the ownership share that the parent has.

3

Thank you. I used the special issues section to explain the above events. Thanks for the information. Tough year with too many losses.