I need help determining who is my custodial parent. My parents have been legally separated since I was 4. They have a legal agreement that says they split custody and should have equal time. I know that the custodial parent is the one with which you spend more time, and I live at my moms for more days of the year since it is closer to my school. Even though the legal agreement says that I should spend time with both parents equally, I still end up at my moms more days of the year. Does this mean she is my custodial parent? My mom makes less money than my dad, so it would help me out with getting money if she was the custodial parent. I just don’t want to list her as my custodial parent and then get in trouble with FAFSA since the legal agreement technically says that my parents should have equal time. Please help!
Yes, you count overnights and if you spend more with your mother, it’s her info you should use.
You aren’t doing anything wrong. Many families engineer it so the student spends more time with the lower earning parent (one parent is going to get one more day in a 365 day year)
Your mom’s info goes on FAFSA.
The gov’t/FAFSA app doesn’t give a hoot what’s on a custody agreement. It’s the number of nights that you spend with parents that matters.
Just remember, it’s the parent you live with most for the year prior to the FILING DATE of your FAFSA. So if you live with your mom more as of that date, you use her.