Fraudulent FAFSA application?

Paying for College
21

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be respected by her and her mother stop wrongfully using my information). Well apparently a document she asked me to sign for my daughters admissions, she turned into the court house and had a judge sign off on it so now its “court ordered” and she can legally sue me, it’s an order she wrote up that orders I pay more than half of her cost for her first year and 50% for the rest of her education. She has changed her major so will be taking another year there
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Your ex has “dirty hands”…I don’t think a court would hold you to this. You need to contact an atty and ask.

Your DD may not have known about any of this.

22

I would start copying and saving what you can from the FAFSA website just in case you need it at some point. You need to document what you can on anything related to this. I also think I would contact a lawyer as @blossom suggested in post #11. And, I would change the password too as others have suggested.

23

Screen shot the text messages she sent you requesting you forward her the FAFSA emails and print them out as well. Document, Document, Document.

24

I contacted my daughter several times, NOT my ex. Sorry for not clarifying that, and like I said no reply from her, when my ex said I was “harassing” her I left her alone… I’m just not sure what to do because I don’t want my daughter to suffer any consequences, like getting kicked out of school or anything else. Obviously she knows what her mom is doing as it is her application and she is an adult so would she be held liable as well?

25

I really don’t see that you have any option but to report what your ex has done. Knowing and not reporting makes you complicit. Any consequences that your daughter suffers will be because of the actions that your ex took. I disagree that it’s obvious that your daughter knew what her mom was doing. Or at least that she knew that what her mom was doing was wrong.

26

Do NOT assume that your DD knew anything. While it’s technically her FA application, MANY students never see this. Their parents do the whole thing for them.

Your DD may know, but it’s just as likely that she never knew.

Keep in mind that YOU A MUCH OLDER adult was bamboozled by this ex…WHY do you think that she didn’t bamboozle a student under age 21???

27

Look…you know this isn’t right. I agree with Blossom. Contact a lawyer…ASAP. There could be a legal aid group near you. Or a law school that can point you to someone who can help you.

Don’t wait.

I’m sorry, but most places frown on dishonesty.

And to others reading this thread. NEVER?..and I mean NEVER should you turn over your documents to anyone else. Never. Well…except to,the lawyer who is going to get to the root of this.

28

I highly doubt that OP’s D will get kicked out of school for this, or worse (like being jailed).

OP has been played, because he trusted his ex-wife and wanted the best for his D.

I agree that a lawyer should be consulted, in order to protect OP from making this even more of a mess, and to prove good faith effort at resolving a situation where he reasonably suspects fraud has occurred, and that he is arguably tied up in.

Ultimately, I think the School FA office will need to be consulted, and with an attorney’s assistance, an equitable resolution can be found. They may simply start with an audit of OP’s D’s historical financial aid application records, and if things do not look as clean and proper as they should, they may take further action. Penalties theoretically may involve a revocation of aid granted fraudulently, which may end up resulting in them preventing OP’s D from registering for classes in her senior year until the situation is resolved, but I don’t think it gets that far that fast. This probably drags out longer than that, and I would even suspect that they may find that OP’s ex didn’t contribute her fair share of 50% (according to the agreement she had with OP). It doesn’t sound like the ex will be able to convince anyone that she didn’t know what she was doing, this is soo confusing, etc. but it would not surprise me if she tried.

Like it or not, the OP’s D is in a messy situation - she is also the one who should be getting an attorney. She is the one who filed, based on what her mom told her, and probably said she lived with her dad who she apparently has little contact with.

OP should let his D know he reasonably suspects that fraudulent activity has occurred, and that he is in the process of obtaining legal assistance. He should recommends that she retain counsel to protect herself as well, as he believes he is obligated to report this lest it continue, which might make him appear complicit. Once OP and his D have both found counsel, the counsel would best determine if and how they report this to the school.

OP is generally responsible for anything he signed, but at this stage, if fraud has occurred, his ex instead might be responsible for any loans she signed pretending to be him.

Please let us know how this plays out.

29

My daughter is 21 now not 18, but if she didn’t understand exactly what my ex was doing is it possible for her to stay in her school and not get in any kind of trouble??

Will they go as far as to look into the IP address?? because if so they will see that it was her doing everything and I NEVER gave her consent IF I DID it was because she sugarcoated,lied or didn’t give me all the details as to exactly WHAT she was doing and if she was being honest why wouldn’t she just have asked me to e-sign it myself to avoid a situation as this she must have not wanted me to find out whats she was doing?

Is there anything else going on? POSSIBLY, I have no clue what’s going on and what’s been done. I can’t get a hold of my daughter, she hasn’t responded to me regarding this issue although I have contacted her several times and I can’t talk to her mother or else I’m “harassing” her so what do I do?

Obviously I need an attorney but I’m afraid of this being put out there and my daughter suffering because of it… I’m afraid being held in contempt for not paying for her school anymore since she’s withholding info because my ex discreetly had me sign something and then behind my back had a judge sign off on it! Like I said I am in no financial situation to play with money, my family and I are eating on pennies.

I have screen shot everything I have and contacted my cell phone carrier for past text messages, they are in the process of being mailed to me so i have them as evidence as well.

30

Of course your daughter may suffer because of it. She is who benefited from the forms being filed with the wrong information.

If you want to put a stop to it, do it. Don’t pay for the summer. Don’t ‘have the money ready by ___’. Stop letting them push you around. If ex has a court order, let her try to enforce it and you can claim you never agreed to pay, didn’t agree to let them use your financial information, never ‘signed’ (it’s done electronically) a FAFSA, never applied for a FAFSA ID (she didn’t have to use your email, any email works as long as it isn’t the same as the child’s or another parent). If your ex sues you, she could be charged with fraud. If you don’t pay for summer school or any more school, your daughter may not get to go.

There is no way to fix it without consequences to someone, including your daughter. She’s 21. It’s time for her to learn that there are rules she has to follow, such as giving your the information your request, if she wants to go to school.

31

Don’t be afraid to contact an attorney - as was suggested above, they do not report you, they only give advice, help you get the information you need to protect yourself and your immediate family first.

They will understand you want to do right by your daughter and that you are concerned about how this may affect her.

As far as your daughter is concerned, please understand your daughter is at risk of further problems down the road that could arise when this is found out. Your daughter is way better off being truthful and working with the school to resolve this, rather than doing nothing now and taking the chance that it slips by. If there was fraud involved, it is likely that it will come out eventually, and you would not want your D’s diploma to be revoked, and maybe her job lost, down the road. There is definitely a better chance of an appropriate resolution once you and your counsel have the real facts, and if there was in fact fraud on the part of your ex, your D is better off IMHO coming clean with what she knows, so the school can work with her to come up with a solution. I think if your D comes clean, the school will be more than happy to work with her to let her stay in school - especially if it is clear to them she wants to resolve any potential issue.

If it turns out your D and your ex were both providing everything to the school on the up and up, then you and your D will be able to sleep at night.

There are lots of possible bad outcomes if you don’t get help and don’t report this soon. Once your D graduates, if she has loans that they signed your name to, you are on the hook for them. If you do not report what you suspect now, it will be virtually impossible to dispute something after she graduates and the loans are due.

From what I understand, this is the type of problem presents enough interesting possibilities that it would be likely to get attention from a non-profit, no-fee legal assistance team. This is a problem that law school students can both relate to and learn from.

32

In terms of your daughter,

just from what I remember about reading about older cases, it is almost always only the parent that filed that is charged with anything. The only situations ive read where the student face charges where was they filed without the parents knowledge or they lied during the investigation. So worst case your daughter would be kicked out of her current school and would have to transfer somewhere else and your ex would get charged, have to pay full restitution, fines and probably serve probation or community service. White collar crimes like this rarely result in any jail time especially if she doesnt have a criminal record prior to this. But I understand your worry for your daughter.

and yes I understand the trickiness of you not wanting to report this for the sake of your daughter, because it seems cases like this arent usually noticed or investigated by the school unless tipped off by someone because its not a fraud ring, not using fake tax info and not a huge amount of money but again there is a chance it will be and unless you reported it you would probably be held liable. Good luck!

33

you need to get legal advice from a lawyer licensed to practice in your state, not the internet.

If you have evidence of fraud then a call to the DA’s office is probably in order as well.

34

You also need to get a credit report to see if your ex has any credit cards or loans n your name.

You do NOT have to pay anything for your daughter’s schooling at all unless you signed court papers in as part of a settlement agreeing to pay for college. Your daughter is not entitled to child support after age 18 unless you also signed papers to pay until age 21. But then again your daughter is aged 21. You need a lawyer.

35

I am so sorry this is happening. Quit giving your daughter and ex money. Take care of your minor child first.

I agree that you need a lawyer, and I wouldn’t wait to contact one. Blossom had a great suggestion about finding an affordable one. I’d take care of it before your daughter graduates, because if it’s discovered afterward her diploma can be rescinded.

Run a credit check to make sure no loans were taken out in your name. And do them at least once a year. Now that your ex has your social security number, you never know when it may enter her head to open a credit card or take a loan in your name.

Good luck to you.

36

You need to take a step back and collect everything from the last 3-4 years.

Go to a lawyers office or law school. There are either young new lawyers who the court will award pro bono, or they will take the case and sue for restitution and lawyer fees.

Make sure you tell them to do the ip address search. If you truly never touched any of this and have had very little contact, it is too easy for you to win. They can’t claim you broke into their house or work and pulled this stunt.

Finally, your daughter will be ok, she has 3 years of college, worst case scenario she has to have her mom take out a loan to pay for her last year of school.

However, if you do not report this you will not be fine. Like you said, 10 years and 20,000 in prison. Don’t be stupid and think that you can overlook it, now you know and now you have to act.

Goodluck and I’m sorry for the sticky situation.

37

I’m curious how the OP would change his FSA ID password if the ex is the one who set it up? There are 5 security question/answers I believe to set up when you create the ID. Wouldn’t you need to know them to be able to reset the password?

I think I would not try to sign in to FAFSA from his computer for now before talking to a lawyer.

38

Ok, that’s not going to happen. OP may get a lawyer to take a look at this pro bono, but no court will “award” that.

39

My ex tricked me into signing an agreement with her, (as you can see she know’s how to play me). I was under the impression that it was something my daughter needed for school like we had to prove to the school that I was going to pay for her tuition or something…

She took the agreement to the courts and had a judge sign off on it (without my knowledge and thoroughly explaining to me what she was doing with that agreement) so now its a court ordered agreement that I pay for D’s college and she can sue me now. She had me under the impression that it was just the state law that I pay the amount she says for me to pay so I did… As I trusted her calculations…

After this mess, I called the court house to see if there was any kind of obligation for me to pay and found out that I am not legally held responsible for D’s tuition unless there is an order or divorce decree, clerk looked me up and found the agreed order and explained what my ex submitted it and had a judge sign it that’s why I was never seen before a judge because we made an “agreement/contract”… After talking to a few lawyers I’ve figured that she did it that way because the courts would not have granted her the amount she was requesting with my income compared to her and her husbands income and would have held my daughter liable for some of her expenses as well, they would have made her do FAFSA which she wouldn’t have been able to get away with putting in my name if it were through the courts and so she didn’t want the courts to handle it because she knew she wasn’t going to get what she wanted so she made up an agreement with what she wanted in it, tricked me into signing it, turned it into the courts so that she can sue me if I don’t do what she wants me to do…

We were never married so there is no divorce decree, we’ve been broken up for like 16 years now…

Like I said I’ve been taken advantage of, I trusted her to do the right thing, I never expected any of this… I just believed what she told me and did as she said to avoid any conflict…

40

You need to find out if this actually true. I’ve never heard of a court taking papers a former spouse gets and recording it as a court order.

Contact a lawyer. This may all be NOT true at all…about the court order to pay.