<p>so my parents are divorced and i will be applying for financial aid next year.</p>
<p>On the FAFSA, im supposed to fill out the parental information questions regarding the parent i live with the most, which happens to be my mom. These are the questions about parental income and savings. Here is how the divorce paperwork is layed out though....</p>
<p>1) my parents have joint legal custody
2) my mom has physical custody but....
3) my dad gets to claim me on his taxes</p>
<p>Will any of this effect how i fill out the FAFSA regarding my parents income/savings?</p>
<p>I believe im still supposed to fill out the FAFSA according to my moms income and savings, but im just not sure.</p>
<p>who claims you as a dependent on taxes has no bearing on who is your custodial parent for Fafsa. You do not put your Dad’s info on the Fafsa if he is not the custodial parent. Completely different is you need to submit a CSS profile (depending on what schools you apply to)</p>
<p>Actually since the parents have JOINT custody that would imply an equal time arrangement. I thought when this was the case, that the parent who provided the greater support had to be listed on the FAFSA as the custodial parent…but I could be wrong. </p>
<p>Now if this kid lives with the mom and only sees the dad for weekends or something like that…then the mom would be the custodial parent…but with joint custody…hmmm…I’m not sure.</p>
<p>Perhaps Swimcats, Kelsmom or Nikki will help out here.</p>
<p>If your parents are married, answer the questions about both parents.</p>
<p>If your parent is widowed or single, answer only the questions about that parent.</p>
<p>If your parents have divorced or separated, answer only the questions about the parent that you lived with most during the last 12 months. If you did not live with one parent more than the other, answer only the questions about the parent who provided most of your financial support during the last 12 months.</p>
<p>If your parent has remarried after being widowed or divorced, answer the questions about both your parent and your stepparent.</p>
<p>so for the CSS Profile ive done some research, and from what i can tell i must fill out the CSS profile according to the parent who claims me on his or her tax returns…does this sound correct?</p>
<p>And if so, if a school required both FAFSA and the CSS Profile, wouldnt the fact that i filled out the FAFSA according to my mom’s income/savings and the CSS Profile according to my dads income/savings raise some eyebrows?</p>
<p>the profile wants info (income/assets on BOTH parents regardless of custody) and any step parent info too. RARELY can you get a non custodial waiver and you’d have to prove you have had no contact with non custodial parent which doesn’t seem to be the case in you scenario</p>
<p>i live with my mom the majority of the time and she pays for everything i do… my dad pays her child support and alimony if that helps</p>
<p>there is no set time in the divorce paperwork where i see my dad, i.e. it does not say “every other weekend the child will be at the father’s house”. I have free reigns of when i see/stay with my dad</p>
<p>If you lived with your mom even one more minute than you lived with your dad during the past 12 months, she is the parent you use for FAFSA. It doesn’t matter what is on the tax form … and joint custody generally still sees the student living with one parent more than the other. To my knowledge, Profile schools expect you to use the FAFSA parent as custodial; not all require noncustodial parent info.</p>
<p>Your mom has physical custody of you, so is your custodial parent. </p>
<p>Joint legal custody means that your mom and dad have equal input and power for decisions that affect you, such as medical care, schooling, and so on.</p>
<p>Your father is the non-custodial parent.</p>
<p>I’d have to look at the fine print of the CSS, but since divorced parents often switch off declaring the deducation for their child(ren), I’d be surprised if you had to fill out the CSS with your dad as the custodial parent.</p>
<p>Okay, I am not too familiar with Profile as it relates to divorced parents … but my understanding is that it is filled out with only the custodial parent (and stepparent, if there is one - you need to use the stepparent for FAFSA, too, BTW). The noncustodial parent form is not always required by the school - if it is, I assume you will be prompted for it (just like they prompt for the additional questions some schools have).</p>
<p>Yes, the Profile is filled out with only the custodial parent’s information (and spouse if there is one). The Profile does ask whether the non-custodial parent is going to contribute funds for college, if so how much, and whether this is covered in the divorce decree.</p>
<p>Many schools require the non-custodial parent to fill out the non-custodial Profile form. This form asks for the income and assets of the non-custodial parent (and spouse if there is one). Schools choose to use this information any way they choose when awarding institutional aid. </p>
<p>Yes…there may be questions about “whether the non-custodial parent is going to contribute to college and how much”…but the reality is that many Profile schools that require the non-custodial parent form EXPECT that the non-custodial parent WILL contribute if school determines that the income and assets indicate they can. If that non-custodial parent says “I don’t plan to contribute any money” but they have income in excess of (for example) $200,000 per year…the school will likely EXPECT a contribution on the part of the non-custodial parent.</p>
<p>Conventional advice is that the Profile for most schools requires income/asset information from custodial parent and spouse (if there is one) AND non-custodial parent and spouse (if there is one). </p>
<p>FAFSA only requires the custodial parent (and spouse if there is one).</p>
<p>Indeed. And some Profile schools will not require the form, but will expect that the $xxxxx contribution that the custodial parent indicated on the Profile will indeed be coming from somewhere and will award financial aid accordingly.</p>