Ex-husband filled out Fafsa - is not custodial parent

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello all -
My ex husband filled out the Fafsa for my daughters. He is not the custodial parent. He kept me out of the loop, and used the information to take tax deductions for college expenses.</p>

<p>One daughter is graduated, and the second is in her freshman year.</p>

<p>His is now suing me for college expenses (among other things, basically putting myself and my current husband into bankruptcy from legal fees) I have been out of work for 6 years and am disabled. I am remarried and he is also. Our original decree does not specify college costs.</p>

<p>He inherited a large amount of money, as well as a trust fund. His mother actually gave him the money for the girls college, but he has claimed he paid it.</p>

<p>Any advice? I'm broke, tired, frustrated, and looking to find out what would happen should I report him. I don't want blow back on my kids, obviously.</p>

<p>Thanks -</p>

2

<p>First of all, the parent who fills out FAFSA, under the rules is the parent with whom the children spending the most time for the year before the day the FAFSA is filed. It has nothing to do with who is named as custodial parent in the divorce decree, who is taking tax deduction, who is paying more (unless both parents spend exactly equal time) for the children. </p>

<p>Who takes tax deductions for college expenses has nothing to do with who fills out FAFSA. This is something an accountant needs to address, but it usually comes down to who paid the money to the colleges. You get a deduction/credit for the money you actually pay out (not from scholarships) to the school for tution and fees with maximums in place. </p>

<p>Your current problem has nothing to do with the FAFSA. You have a problem in that he is suing you, and there is no way around getting some legal advice on all of this, something we cannot give you on this board with any accuracy, as so many factors can be involved. </p>

<p>To whom do you want to report him? How would that help you? You don’t get retroactive money in financial aid, but yes, it is possible your daughters may have to repay funds if they got money for which they are entitled. It doesn’t make a whit fo difference from anything I can see as to who filed FAFSA , </p>

<p>I suggest you get some free consultations from attorneys and find out what recourse you have. Your state laws will determine who has to pay for college and also what kind of rights parents have in suing for back support. Your attorney will explain what the deal is. Do add up what you did pay, what it did cost you for having your kids during the years that your Ex is going after you for. Have those figures ready to show. It sounds more like he is going after you for back support, including college expenses, but this has nothing to do with who filled out FAFSA.</p>

3

<p>Consulting an attorney experienced in divorce is the best advice we can give you. Talk with 2-3 attorneys to get a good opinion of your situation. Based on what you’ve told us, I find it hard to believe that he could sue you for college expenses if your divorce decree does not obligate you to pay them. However, there may be other clauses in there that require you to pay half of all support costs until a certain age for example that college might fall under. Have attorneys review your decree and state laws.</p>

4

<p>There are often on going suits for more child support in adverse divorce situations. I see them all of the time. Some states do require parents to pay for college based on an earnings scale and with joint custody the way it usually goes, yes, you can be expected to pay for college whether it is spelled out in the divorce decree or not. In fact, it’s better if it’s in the decree, in that the contingency is covered. It’s when it isn’t in there and the state has some rules about it, that it can come up. </p>

<p>I have a friend who sues every couple of years or so, and has for a long time now, to make sure her ex is paying what he should according to his current income. She gets raises in her child support that way. Her ex is not about to offer up the money. If he made less, he would likely go to court for a reduction in the support. Recently there has been a turn in events in that he is asking to be considered in a joint custody situation and that would mean a big drop in child support for her even though there isn’t going to be a whole lot of difference in who has the children as they are now older and spend more time away from home than at. Dad figured out that if he insists on the kids spending half the nights at his house instead of only 10-20% of the time on average, he could be considered joint in custody and these days, it’s not that much work as the kids are in their teens and are rarely around. It’s going to mean a whole lot of renegotiation in terms of who pays for what, as right now Mom pays most all of the kids bills for anything pertaining to them, something she won’t be able to do when her child support is cut as drastically as expected. And Dad tends to refuse to pay for anything.</p>

<p>But OP needs to know what her rights and obligations are in her state. It may be a factor on her side that he has filled out the FAFSA and the kids have gotten financial aid based on his numbers and he has gotten the benefit of the tax deductions. FAFSA only requires one parent(and that parent’s spouse) to fill out the form in a divorce situation. Hopefully, he was the custodial parent by definition of FAFSA (has nothing to do with the divorce decree).</p>

5

<p>Thanks all for the advice. I have a divorce attorney, and it isn’t about child support. I haven’t seen any of that for a long time… He sues me as a way to make sure my life is as limited as possible… </p>

<p>I’m trying to find out what the consequences would be if it were found out he is not the residential parent. He’s already on the bad side of the IRS for taking the oldest as a deduction when she lived with me and went to community college. I am the residential parent.</p>

<p>The youngest is in her freshman year away at college, but spends the majority of her breaks and weekends with me. She has a 75% scholarship, but I think she could have gotten more aid if he hadn’t done it.</p>

<p>So, forget the divorce issues, what could happen if they find out he has fraudulently filled it out? I don’t even get information from the college as he has put her address as his.</p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>If “they” is the college, and they discover that your daughters submitted FAFSA with false information, that’s going to come back on your daughters, not your ex-husband. Your daughters are adults, and they are legally responsible for the accuracy of forms that they sign and submit. If those forms contain false information, that’s going to be their problem.</p>

7

<p>Your daughter is in charge of the address and other information the college has. All she has to do is go change her address in the admissions office. If she didn’t file FAFSA yet for 2014, have her do it with you. You’ll need to get a PIN number and she has one.</p>

8

<p>For clarification…are you saying that the father filled out the FAFSA for FOUR years for your older daughter and you are JUST NOW finding this out?</p>

9

<p>Yes, as I thought it would be a problem for the kids. He threatened not to pay for any of their college if they didn’t do it his way or tell me about it.</p>

<p>I was never consulted about it in anyway. I didn’t know about all of this until much too late.</p>

<p>Thanks for the replies. I’m just not sure what to do now. If my freshman corrects the Fafsa address, I’m afraid it will red flag things.</p>

10

<p>Kids move between parental homes all the time. If it is certain that your child resides with you more than with dad, file the FAFSA with your daughter. She can explain that she does reside with you.</p>

11

<p>The way it works is that the custodial parent for FAFSA purposes is the parent with whom the student has lived with the most during the year before filing the form. If he filed the FAFSA as the custodial parent, the financial aid they got was based on what he put on the form, and right from the onset if he was not the custodial parent, any aid your kids got was obtained fraudulently, as his info had nothting to do with getting the awards any more than a random guy down the street. This is federal fraud, and your kids would then have any aid they got based on those filings rescinded and owe those amounts.</p>

<p>Kelsmom can give you the ramifications of this, but yes, it would be on your kids’ heads as they are responsible for getting their college paid and parents are considered part of the resources to do so. Your ex would also have problems with federal fraud, but the bottom line is that the money was obtained fraudulently. </p>

<p>Now your ex is suing you for reimbursement of money he spent for the kids’s college? What does your attorney say about this in terms of who is responsible to pay for college in your state? What are the rules for that? That is a whole separate issue from the FAFSA filings. The FAFSA filing gave your kids an EFC which is ususally the dollar amount that has to be paid before federal aid could be dispensed. It’s ususally the least amount a person has to pay unless the school’s cost is less than that. The only aid guaranteed on an EFC is the PELL grant if the number is very low, like if your husband and his wife are close to poverty level. Otherwise it’s just loans and what the college is willing to give on the EFC.</p>

<p>For you the matter is how much your ex has paid for college and whether in your state, the laws are such that you are supposed to be paying for college too, based on your financial situation. Your attorney should be able to advise you on that. </p>

<p>My understanding is that you cannot retroactively refile FAFSAs and get back aid. So what’s done is done beyond the 2013 FAFSA, which you can complete and see if the EFC using your income, your husband’s income (yes, spouses are included) and combined assets is lower than what the current EFC is. The 2014 for the next school year is up now, but until the current school year is over, one can revise the FAFSA for the 2013-14 year, is my understanding. But if earlier FAFSA were fraudulently completed, your daughters can lose all of the aid they got based on those filings, and you can’t refile with the correct numbers—please check on that, hopefully Kelsmom chimes in , or PM her with the question. </p>

<p>What your husband threatened makes no difference in the case, or his refusal to pay. If state laws do not require him to pay and your divorce decree does not spell it out or it isn’t in the child support agreement, he doesn’t have to pay a cent. If he’s paid more than what is in the decree or state laws AND if you are on the hook by law, you do have to come up with the difference. If you aren’t on the hook whatever he paid are his business. </p>

<p>But your attorney is prime on this. He can tell you what the rules are for who pays for college and how it affects child support. The FAFSA has nothing to do with it. It also has nothing to do with who claims the kids on taxes and the college credit deductions and credits. Right now, what you might want to do is fill out the 2013 FAFSA for your DD in college and refile it saying that you are the custodial parent. If it results in less aid, so be it. That’s what she’s entitled to get and anything else is fraudulently obtained. Then for 2014, you file again. If your husband and you make more than your ex and his wife it is likely that your student gets less aid. As Happymom says, kids move between parental homes all the time, so that if you discover that she has lived with you more than her father in this past year that can be grounds to refile the FAFSA. Perhaps she did live with dad a bit more than you for the period of one year before your ex filed the 2013 FAFSA, in which case, that can remain as is. But if she definitely was with you more than her dad for the past year, you and your husband are the ones to file this 2014 FAFSA. </p>

<p>But again, the FAFSA has nothing to do with the child support, tuition payment issues. Fraudulently filed FAFSA are federal issues and your daughter as well as your ex, those who signed off on the info are liable for the info there.</p>

12

<p>Do not pursue this. You will hurt your children.
The law suit has nothing to do with the FAFSA.</p>

13

<p>I agree you have two separate issues. The only issue I see with the FAFSA is who in actuality was or is the custodial parent. Talk to your lawyer, but perhaps a compromise would be to extricate yourself from the equation and have your daughters pay your husband back over a very, very, very long period of time the money he spent on their education and start “fresh” with the FAFSA and the younger daughter starting this year with you and your new husband’s information if by law you are the custodial parent.</p>

14

<p>Sometimes, you have to pick your battles, and it is useless to count other people;s money. While you could pursue it, and possibly “win” the battle, you will ultimately lose the war. Keep in mind that your kids along with your ex spouse state that the information on the FAFSA is true. What is the outcome that you are looking for?</p>

<p>As others have stated, it would be your kids in addition to your ex, who have committed fraud. The ramifications for your kids would be more damaging as they could be dismissed from school in addition to having repay all monies that you feel was fraudulently given to them.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>If you and your current husband refile the FAFSA using the income from your household, are you and your husband ready and able to pick up the slack should your ex refuse to pay (based from your posting, you are not in a position to do this). Depending on how much money your husband makes, as other stated, unless he is low income, you most likely would not have gotten more money if you had filed instead of him. </p>

<p>If your ex husband filed and paid the bills, your kids benefitted especially because you were not in a financial position to do so. Keep in mind that paying for college is a moral obligation ; unless you it is stated in your divorce decree/child support order, your ex does not legally have to pay for your kids to attend college (neither do you or your current husband)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Doesn’t matter. If he wrote the check, he paid the bill. Once his mother gave him the money, it was his to do as he pleased (unless she set up in an account or trust that specifically states that the money can only be used to pay for college expenses). If you filed the FAFSA, if your ex or g-ma paid the bill, it would have go on the FAFSA where your kids would have to list it as monies paid on their behalf (still not netting them more financial aid). If you are trying to correct that FAFSA, you will have to list all of the money that he paid (regardless of the original source) for your kids education.</p>

<p>I am sorry, that you and your ex have such an acrimonious relationship. It is my hope that you can check somethings at the door and ultimately love your kids more than you hate each other (at the end of the day, your kids will be the collateral damage in this war).</p>

15

<p>The FAFSA is not an issue in terms of child support and who pays what anyways. I don’t know what specifically your ex is suing you for, and if in your state, and in your circumstance, he has a chance of getting a decision that you do owe him money. But the FAFSA isn’t in the picture on that one. Why you even want to bring it confuses me. </p>

<p>What has your lawyer told you about this suit for money? In your state, are you supposed to be paying for more than you are towards college in a divorce/support situation? Are you not paying according to income levels? That is what counts in these cases. </p>

<p>Is the problem because you are claiming the kids as dependents and then he did so to get the college tax credit/deduction since he is paying the amounts? That happens often. Again, FAFSA is not the issue here. Doesn’t matter who filed it in those determinations. </p>

<p>Colleges tend to be a bit forgiving as to who is the custodial parent for FAFSA purposes in divorce situatons but they will not ignore an outright claim that fraud was done. How this would help your case, I don’t see, since retroactive aid is not given by the feds, and by most schools. Going forward, if it is beneficial for your DD to have one or the other of you as the custodial parent for FAFSA, then the daughter must make sure she spends at least a day at that parent’s place more than the other’s during the year period before the FAFSA is filed. That is the determining factor, and as stated multiple times has NOTHING to do with true custody, legal custody, who pays, who claims the child as a dependent. For FAFSA it’s simply time spent in a year’s time and doesn’t have to match anything else.</p>

16

<p>Yes, I see where this only hurts my daughter. I will consult with my attorney to try and do a correct Fafsa for this year for my youngest. I do not want her implicated in his fraud.</p>

<p>Thanks for your replies. I appreciate the feedback!</p>

17

<p>What a tangled web. From the OP’s initial post, I would think her situation would result in more aid - her ex is obviously clueless as to the fact that filling out a FAFSA doesn’t help him in any way in terms of his taxes. </p>

<p>As a financial aid director, my advice is always to be honest. Your D is currently in her freshman year of college, and if she lived with you the most in the 12 months prior to the date your H filed the FAFSA, you were the custodial parent. If this is the case, I suggest you schedule an appointment with the aid office to discuss the situation. They will most likely have you file the FAFSA and go from there. Even if he files a FAFSA for your D again next year, you can, too. Just make sure you let the school know that the correct FAFSA to use is the one you filed. They can set that as the current transaction and use it to award aid.</p>

18

<p>However, if ex is the one paying for college, wouldn’t the custodial parent still have to put the monies paid by the ex husband on behalf of the child (any any child support paid) on the FAFSA.</p>

<p>While Op herself has no income, we do not know how much husband makes. D still may not be eligible for Pell or state aid depending on current husband’s income</p>

<p>She could be doing all of railing this for naught.</p>

19

<p>Here is the FAFSA formula for the current school year:
<a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091312EFCFormulaGuide1314.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091312EFCFormulaGuide1314.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You can print it out and work through it on paper to see whether there would be any difference in your daughter’s federal aid eligibility with you as the custodial parent.</p>

<p>Good luck with everything.</p>

20

<p>Sybbie, you are correct. Finaid.org explains: Cash support from the non-custodial parent of a dependent student is reported as child support received on Worksheet B, even if it isn’t mandated by a child support or college support agreement.</p>