<p>Hello! I had a question regarding the FAFSA for separated parents. I understand that we only fill out the information for the custodial parent (my mother), but since my parents filed taxes together for 2010, I'm confused about something. The following amounts are not my parents' exact financial situations for privacy reasons, but they're similar. The AGI listed on the tax return is around $100,000. However, that includes my father's income. My mother's income is only around $10,000 (and she has the form saying that her personal wages, salaries, tips, etc. equal this amount...since this is included in the AGI figure, we didn't list this in the additional wages section, as it's already accounted for). </p>
<p>When we filled out the FAFSA, based on something we read, we thought we were supposed to take 50% of the income, so we listed $50,000 for her AGI. Since my father still pays the bills, but less than $50,000, we didn't add any additional untaxed income. </p>
<p>However, I then read on here that you are supposed to list the mother's income (so I'm assuming that would be the $10,000 as the AGI?), and then list what the father pays as untaxed income (which would be around $35,000). Should I update the FAFSA and switch the numbers to these, or should the income really have been halved from including what my father makes, even if that is above my mother's actual income? </p>
<p>Thanks for your help!</p>