<p>My parents are divorced (joint custody) and I spend most of the year living with my mom. I visit my dads around once every few weeks. However, my name is under my dads tax return.</p>
<p>My moms income is almost 100k more than my dads income (which is close to nothing because he is currently trying to start his own business), so when applying for financial aid we want to put my dads income down instead of my moms for maximum benefit, but is that allowed? Is it considered fraud (because I don't live with my dad), or is it legal (because I am listed as a dependent under his name)?</p>
<p>Your mom is your custodial parent. When parents are separated or divorced, the custodial parent is responsible for filling out the FAFSA.</p>
<p>–The custodial parent is the parent with whom the child lived the most during the past 12 months.
–This may not necessarily be the same as the parent who has legal custody.
–If the child did not live with one parent more than the other, the parent who provided the most financial support during the past twelve months should fill out the FAFSA.
–This is probably the parent who claimed you as a dependent on their tax return.
–If you have not received any support from either parent during the past 12 months, use the most recent calendar year for which you received some support from a parent.</p>
<p>For FAFSA purposes, your tax filing status does NOT matter. Your custodial parent for the FAFSA is the parent you reside with the majority of time. In your case, this is your mom. And yes, it would be fraud to list your dad as custodial parent for financial aid gain when he is NOT in fact your custodial parent.</p>
<p>Just to add a twist, if the time lived at each house has been close, can you live mostly with your Dad until the end of December? That might tip the scales in his favor for who you reside with.</p>
<p>Actually student will have to live with dad 51% of the time in order for dad to be custodial parent. If student lives with both parents equally, then the custodial parent is the parent who provided the most support to the student (mom).</p>
<p>Since this is a leap year, OP would have to live with dad a minimum of 184 days (366/2 + 1 day). Since Op states that s/he visits dad every couple of weeks, even even if OP stayed with dad every day until december 31, it would not be enough time to make dad custodial parent.</p>
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<p>However, the FAFSA is based on income/asset from the 2012 calendar year ending on December 31.</p>
<p>4kids…I could be wrong but I think for FAFSA purposes it is how long you much you lived with the parent year in the calendar year for THAT FAFSA. So for the 2013-2014 FAFSA, it would be the parent the student lived with most in the 2012 calendar/tax year.</p>
<p>Thumper is right. The 51% rule isn’t based on the date you file FAFSA…it’s based on the prior calendar year.</p>
<p>This student lives with her mom. It would be pure fraud to suggest otherwise. </p>
<p>(Again, this is another example of why both bio parents’ incomes should be on FAFSA to avoid any attempts at such fraud. To think that the attempt to use the dad’s info could result in receiving a full Pell grant when the real custodial parent is earning 6 figures is just gross.</p>
<p>I blipped over the amount of time spent with each parent. That was why I couched my suggestion with “if the time lived at each house has been close”.</p>
<p>If parents are divorced, don’t most (all?) schools also require filling out the CSS Profile anyway?</p>
<p>So, “fraud” or “hiding parental income/assests” would seem to be out of the question regardless.</p>
<p>I (we) will be facing this situation next year. And in all things, I have found that 100% honesty and full disclosure to always be the best course of action.</p>
<p>Most of the 4000+ colleges in the country use FAFSA. Only about 350 use the Profile form, and of those about a third require the non-custodial form. Many of the elite schools have their own forms and might require the non-custodial parent’s information.</p>
<p>Agree that fraud and hiding income/assets is out of the question regardless.</p>
<p>I was wondering about the CSS Profile, too. I had heard that most selective colleges require it as well as the FAFSA. The CSS Profile, unlike the FAFSA, requires info on the non-custodial parents’ income. My son lives with me all of the time. His father and I are legally separated. His father’s income is about 3 times mine, so , of course, we wish that we would not have to show dad’s income, but I think we will have to (my son is applying to many selective colleges). Is this right? And is there any reason to do a FAFSA and CSS Profile if the joint income is over $300,000 (his dad makes a lot, not me!)??</p>
<p>No, it doesn’t. About a third of Profile schools do, but the other two thirds only require the custodial parent’s information. See the link from Erin’s Dad, and see if your son’s schools are among the ones that require his father’s income to be included or not.</p>
<p>Interesting. I thought non-custodial reporting was 100%. See, that’s why I’m on CC. :)</p>
<p>OK, here’s another question -</p>
<p>As regards the $300K income … I thought schools require that the FAFSA be filled out and on file (regardless of income) before they will do anything relating to money … merit aid, campus jobs, loans, etc. Not true? Thanks.</p>
<p>Not necessarily true. Some schools will make you fill out FAFSA for merit aid but most will not. For non-private loans you will have to fill it out. If you want work study which has a need component you will have to fill it out. For a general campus job, no.</p>
<p>What I’m starting to figure out is that the Common App and FinAid apps are not “common” at all and that every school still do certain things their own way to some extent.</p>