<p>My D's father is 20 years older than I, retired in a foreign country, and disabled living with family. SHe has a good relationship with him, but he has virtually no income due to age and physical situation. Does not file any sort of taxes in foreign country, and since I was never married to him, there has never been any legal obligation for him to contribute.
However, colleges are requesting tax forms/income statements for "non-custodial" parent. He simply does not have any. What do I do?</p>
<p>Write the financial aid offices at the schools & explain the situation. Ask them to contact you to discuss.</p>
<p>He can fill out the forms with a big goose egg for income. Zero is a number too, you know. You should also write the financial aid offices as Kelsmom advises. If his situation is truly as you say and he fills out the forms as such, there will be no problem. Too many times, that sort of situation involves someone who is telling everyone that he has no income when he does. So then he won't want to fill out the form which will verify or disprove his story. If he doesn't fill out the form, it can be a problem that schools approach on a case by case basis. There may be schools that will refuse to give aid to someone with incomplete info from the non custodial parent.
That there has never been any legal obligation for him to contribute is likely because YOU did not pursue it. You do not have to be married to be responsible for the support of your child. The custodial parent has to go after the other parent in order for there to be a legal obligation on the books. That you let it go, does not mean that he should not have contributed. It was a mutual decision between the two of you due to inaction that he has not contributed thus far. Now that other people's money (ie the colleges) are involved, it isn't that easy to get off the hook. He needs to have his lack of income verified, and if he has assets of any sorts, he is obligated as any parent to use some of them to pay for his daughter's education. If he truly has nothing, then he will not be a factor in the financial aid process. But if there is any US paper trail of money he has or is getting, it will be found when he files the PROFILE or other papers.</p>
<p>True, however even if it was pursued, child support usually ends at 18 or graduation from HS, whichever is later. Anyone that has to be forced by a court system into child support is doubtful to offer up $10-20K support later when not legally bound. Most of the time it is going to be $0. Anyone who thinks differently is just not realistic in 90+% of the cases.</p>
<p>Talk to the school, and start early.</p>
<p>I agree that the law at this point will be able to go after him for any child support. The clock is likely to have run out. However, if he does have sufficient assets and income to contribute to his child's education, most PROFILE colleges are not going to want to take up the slack. If he is a zero in terms of financial, then, well and good, there is nothing to expect. But he needs to fill out the forms substantiating this. There are too many noncustodial parents who are just refusing to pay their fair share, and many colleges are treating this as a family decision if the money is there. Why should a divorced parent refusing to pay be given a bye when a non divorced parent who refuses, is not? This is a common situation, and if it is not addressed consistently, it becomes a financial strategy among non custodial parents to refuse to pay, letting the school come up with the slack and then slip a little extra to the kid in cash off the books. See it all the time. It does still happen, but with the more selective schools, they make it a true risk that your kids does not get the aid if a parent with the money won't report it or won't pay. Unless some outsider can vouch for long term abandonment, both parents are on the hook. Too many divorced families to treat it any other way. </p>
<p>You are right, Father05, in that these parents just won't pay. MY good friend's husband has suffiecient income and assets to pay for colleges for his kids. Prefers to slip them money when he feels like it , to paying tuition, room, board, etc. Refused to complete the PROFILE, has been in their lives enough that all PROFILE schools deemed that he had to be kept on the financial hook. Kids got no money. Kids went to state/local schools and good old wonderful DAd bought them cars, took them to expensive restaraunts, paid for expensive stuff they wanted, slipped them tuition, book money when needed, but just refused to be on the hook for private tuition at a school his beloved daughter preferred to attend. Hell, he bought the son a $30K+ sportscar (on payments, so it could not be sold for the money) but refused to fill out his financial aid forms, locking him out for money too. Too many like him, but I can't see a college condoning that behaviour by giving his kids money, so they have to take the consequences of having such a parent. It is the parents' responsibilities to make these college decisions, as kids are dependents according to financial aid policies unless they fall into special categories.</p>
<p>Yes...child support ends for students at age 18. BUT the obligation for parents to provide financial information for college finaid does not end at 18. It ends at 24. So...even if this non-custodial parent doesn't pay child support, schools that require the Profile will expect to see HIS income and asset information...or the school will have to decide based on your input, that this information is not essential. It's not all that easy to get a non-custodial parent financial waiver. Reality is that this person IS a parent...and "may" have some finances that could be used to pay for his child's college education. And as noted above...some non-custodial parents do not want to complete those finaid forms because they do NOT want their assets and incomes to be known to others. It's sad that the kids get caught in the middle of this...but if all it took was a non-custodial parent saying "gee, I'm just not going to contribute so don't count my income and assets" there would be lots of folks doing just that.</p>
<p>If he truly has no assets or income, or very little, it won't be a problem at all, if he just reports it as such.</p>
<p>Wow. Thanks a lot, all of you. That was really helpful. He truly does not have any money due to disability. And yes, I chose to never pursue legal action early on. I guess I can get him to fill out the forms indicating as much in long hand, and then send them back to me.</p>
<p>sunshadow -- having dealt with FA offices for myself personally, as a returning student, I have a suggestion. In addition to having him fill out the forms, also ask him to find some documentation of his lack of income and assets. it is not uncommon for FA offices to require additional proof and it is best to just be prepared and have the documents ready to send in -- any legal document (tax forms, disability papers, bank statement, etc) would work. Just a thought while you and he are going through the fafsa and profile application and the information and paperwork is in front of you.</p>
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It ends at 24.
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<p>Just out of curiosity, who picked the age of 24? Like, where did that come from when a majority of student graduate at 22 and 23 years of age (and some are even still 21 going on 22!!) with a bachelor's degree? Anyone know?</p>