I’m here as a friend and am in desperate need of assistance from someone who has gone through this.
Someone extremely close to me is having extreme family difficulties. I’ll refer to them as “X”.
X’s father and step mother are, quite litterally, stealing thousands of dollars from them on a yearly basis. X was forced to sign checks over with the promise X would be allowed to go to college.
X is unable to attend college without a loan and a co-signer. The parents are refusing and threatening X.
The only way X can receive financial aid is if they are emancipated.
X is 20 years of age and in the state of PA it’s (apparently) nearly impossible to emancipate yourself without a lawyer. More so when the parents work for or with the legal system.
X has been accepted to two colleges. X is having difficulty getting straight answers from the financial aid departments and FASFA is no help.
Does anyone know of any other course of action we can take?
I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that you need to be an emancipated /minor/ to qualify as independent. Otherwise, you need to fulfill one of the other independence criteria.
The “forced to sign checks” is disturbing. I assume it was a family trust or inheritence, in which case his other option is to contact a lawyer. Consider seeing if there is a Legal Aid in your area.
You can be emancipated older than 18. It’s a legal declaration… Otherwise your parents can claim you on their taxes as an independent… They’re also obligated to pay your health coverage… They also have to provide documentation for student loans… Which they are also refusing to do for X.
X hasn’t lived at “home” in over 2 years. They’ve been getting into schools- but are blocked when it comes to financial aid.
X wants an education. X is entitled to give themself an education. Waiting until 24-26 isn’t an option.
We’ll try the legal aid route and see how far it takes X.
It’s just a mess of a situation… X is seen as a paycheck rather than a child.
Sure, get legal help, though you’ll find that some of your ideas are mistaken. Emancipation is a concept for minors, not 20-year olds, who are already emancipated adults by virtue of their age. And there is no obligation for a parent to provide health coverage to a child over 18 nor fill out student loan documentation for that child. Whether a child can be claimed as a dependent on a parent’s tax return is a separate determination under IRS rules that has nothing to do with the issues you’re discussing.
Your friend isn’t “entitled” to get himself an education–no one is. Like so many others with financial constraints, he may have to work and take individual classes, probably at his local community college, as and when he can afford them. It’s a shame his family situation is such a mess, but it’s not something the legal process can fix. However, some of the experts who post here should be able to offer advice on whether he may be able to demonstrate to a particular college that there is so much family estrangement that the school should use professional judgment to waive the requirement for parental financial info.
If the parent has indeed been “literally stealing” from the child, his recourse is to call the police or use that lawyer visit to initiate a suit for fraud.
@Jemntheholograms where do the checks go now? Kids are legal adults at 18. Unless this is a trust that requires the trustee ok, those checks should go to your friend and he can call the source (trustee, social security) to have the address or account changed.
If he declares independence and can document, school may waive the parental info under these circumstances.
While the law changed to allow a parent to carry a kid on health insurance to 24, they are not required to.
I would urge him to look into legal aid. If he is supposed to get the $, he should. If he is owed money from dad, they can help him get it.
If he filed a tax return, he gets the exemption. Parent can only take it if the kid does not. It is one of the few things kids control. If they both take, parent gets hit with a bill, not kid.
Not sure about what to do about fafsa. Has anyone ever seen a lawsuit about this? It does seen u fair a parent can withold info the adult kid needs. But it’s not life or death…tough call.
@Jemntheholograms, Are you the one having issues or is it a family member? It would be helpful to know what resources this person has. Is he dependent on his dad and stepmom for a place to live or does he have someplace else to live? Does he have a job? He should have his own bank account, if he doesn’t already, and sign up for direct deposit. Work checks, tax refunds, etc. can all go directly to the bank. That will at least protect the money he has coming in now. Any checks being sent to his home should be direct deposited so his parents won’t have them to cash. If checks that are supposed to be his (life insurance, for example) have been signed over to them, he should see a lawyer to try to have that reversed.
It won’t, however, change the fact that his dad and stepmom’s financial info. is required on the FAFSA and for student loans. If a cosigner is needed, it sounds like he’s contemplating an expensive school. Parents aren’t obligated to help their children take on debt, especially the expensive kind that requires a cosigner. If his dad and stepmom aren’t helping him file FAFSA now, the possibility is that they never will. He’s likely going to have to pay for college on his own with whatever he can save from his job and whatever other resources he may have. Has he been to college yet? If not and his SAT scores and GPA are good, he may qualify for some merit aid somewhere. If he’s already started taking classes, then he can look into transfer scholarships, but they generally aren’t very much.
Is his mom still in the picture? If he applies to FAFSA only schools and lives the majority of time with his mom, he might not need his dad’s financial info.
I don’t think there is a legal requirement that parents MUST keep an under 26 year old on their health insurance plan. They CAN now do so, but I’m not sure that is a mandate.
Please don’t think people are “beating up” on you about this emancipation issue. I think it is just a matter of you having used the incorrect term. Emancipation does indeed apply to minors being declared adults earlier than the law automatically recognizes that. I think what you are meaning, if I might be so bold, is how the person can be seen by colleges as independent of their parents so that the parents don’t even have to be considered in applying for financial aid. Not sure there is a single term equivalent to emancipation for that. And while I am no expert, what I have heard is that if a person can show they have lived separate from their parents and paid their own rent, as well as worked or somehow supported themselves without help from their parents, for at least a year they can apply as an independent.
However, I agree that seeing a lawyer is the way to go. Not only to clear up these issues, but to possibly recover funds that sound like they might have been misappropriated by the parents since your friend turned 18. It is very hard to say without having a lot of particular facts in hand. But for sure the right lawyer should be able to help guide them to establishing total independence from the parents for the purpose of college financial aid.
X is a relative that lost their custodial parent at an extremely young age. It, unfortunately, is a really crappy cinderella Hillary duff movie as far as step parent going.
X works… X takes care of X and has been for years. Due to X’s age they can still be considered an independent until they turn 24+. According to the financial aid offices at least. The financial aid office is who has been throwing the “emancipation” term around. I agree with you Austin… I do not believe there is a correct term for it either. X just needs to declare independence and it’s becoming a bigger mess than it already is.
For the record- x completed 1 semester of school already. Paid out of pocket. Cash up front because of this issue. X is reaching out to me for help because they have exhausted all other options.
X is entitled to provide themselves an education. X is not asking for parental assistance… But rather independence.
I was hoping someone on here had previously gone through this or at least knew how to simplify the independence process.
Note: the college is less than 8k/semester. It’s not a big fancy school.
From the financial aid perspective, it sometimes isn’t enough for the student to be simply living on their own, separate from parents, supporting themselves completely. For the student to be declared independent, he/she would need to submit a dependency override appeal to the college explaining the extenuating circumstances. There usually needs to be some sort of history of abuse/neglect/unaware of parental location with supporting documentation (letter from clergyman, psychologist, school counselor, medical professional) for the student to gain independent status. However, these situations are made by professional judgement by the specific school, so it completely is up to the financial aid professional/committee to make this decision.
The documentation is definitely helpful, and I would absolutely recommend following up with the prospective schools and inquiring about their dependency override process. The required documentation can vary school to school (i.e. 2 support letters vs 3 support letters).
In reference to the post by kgos16, the support letters could come from a person within the community; pastor, social worker, high school guidance counselor, principal, and the like. Good luck!
This is “fixable” and you have a good start. Lots of legwork and he’ll get away from all of that. Just ask the colleges and make sure his money stops going to his dad! Good luck!