<p>I have a very unstable relationship with my father and I don't know if he will be filing taxes for financial aid requirements next year. Thankfully, he filed his Tax Transcripts this year, but only after delaying to last minute, which I am suffering from right now. </p>
<p>Therefore, I am considering finding a girl in a similar situation and marrying her just on paper (aka not an actual relationship; we wouldn't even live together. If there is a law that requires us to live together, I would do it, but we would just be roommates- nothing more) with the intent of divorce after we finish school. </p>
<p>So my question is not about how easy it would be to convince the school that we are actually married (I think a marriage certificate would suffice) but about the legal ramifications of marriage. What are they? Do my loans and her loans become each others loans legally? Are we entitled to each others income? If we have any assets, do they become both of our assets? </p>
<p>I am 21 by the way. I am not looking for comments such as "only get married if you love each other" or "that is morally wrong" or even other ways I could become independent (such as joining the army etc.) as I have looked into all options. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I would just like some legal advice on marriage and whether I would be at risk of getting scammed or robbed by the girl due to any marriage laws I am unaware of if she has bad intentions. </p>
<p>Didn’t we just have a thread from another briiliant young 'un with the same bright idea? It wasn’t that long ago either. I think one of my responses was, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave: When first we practise to deceive!” and I mean that. You have no idea right now what opportunities may arise for you and what doing this could do to such opportunities. Your wife tells the wrong (or right) people at a given time and it becomes common knowledge when you are being considered for something that likes to have upstanding, non sneaky people? Not to mention all of the legal responsibilities that come with marriage, something you need to check with your state laws. You need legal advice for those things. </p>
<p>But on a pragmatic basis, marriage has been a convenience thing for years. A lot of people marry because of the benefits, not the love and companionship and that has been a tale as old as time. But you better know the ramifications of all of this before embarking on such a thing.</p>
<p>Be aware that any money given to you or your spouse by parents, or paid on either of your behalf after marriage is unearned income that is to be reported. So the two of you are going to be totally independent of parental funds? You really think both of you are going to get enough money so that you can support yourselves? </p>
<p>So Jym, is there a way where we can both legally agree to be 100% financially independent- in a way where neither of us could ask for any savings or alimony and whatnot? Or </p>
<p>You need to check out your state laws. You would need prenups most likely and all sorts of other things. Also some schools will keep your status as dependent if you start out as such, in terms of financial aid, so maybe you should start looking up what your school’s policy is in this regard. </p>
<p>Schools are very smart. If your marriage is for financial aid purposes only, it’s likely someone will figure it out.</p>
<p>You do realize that the only guaranteed aid you would receive as independent students with NO income would be $5700 Pell Grant and $9000 in Direct Loans. Per year. That’s it.</p>
<p>The school might not give you a nickel more. AND they will ask for verification of how you pay your day to day living expenses so plan to have documentation of the money you earned to do so.</p>
<p>Your plan has more holes than Swiss cheese.</p>
<p>This is not a legal advice forum and you should not be seeking it here. You should be doing real research, not chatting online if this is what you plan to do. Sounds like you are going to blunder this.</p>
<p>Doesn’t your father have to file his taxes for IRS purposes not financial aid purposes? Any chance of expending energy repairing this relationship before you start a new one?</p>
<p>I like this… You are worried if SHE has bad intentions?
I’m curious as to what you think would be the reason any woman would marry you in your scenario…what’s in it for her? Would she be saddled with your loans/ credit card debt etc?</p>
<p>Why would a young woman who doesn’t know you agree to marry you, especially if she already has an unstable home life? I don’t see how you expect this to work. If you’re both living separate lives, do you intend to hide the marriage from your friends and families? Are you going to agree not to date for however many years it takes you to graduate? Ex-boy/girlfriends can be spiteful, you know, and if either of you confide in the wrong person, it could be disasterous. Jym626 has a good point; how are you going to convince the college you’re married when your tax forms have different addresses?</p>
<p>Horribly stupid idea…but…the young woman would presumably be in a similar circumstance so her motivation would be similar to his…and both would be fraudulently obtaining benefits. May be tough to prove, but it is against the law and even if it wasn’t it puts both of you at risk to the other.</p>
<p>If either of them was going to do something stupid like this, they would be better off marrying someone with the means to pay for school. Rather like legalized prostitution. (not advocating this at all, BTW)</p>
<p>I guess I made the wrong move to ask here. I don’t know where to ask for free legal advice though, but y’all are sure not doing a good job (funny, I thought most people would find out the legal stuff before actually getting married- which I assume most of you are/have been). Like I said I don’t know if it is legally mandatory for a married couple to be living together, but if it is, I already said I would accommodate it and have her as a roommate. It’s not entirely difficult to find someone in a similar condition. Many kids here are paying their way out on their own, I think it would be to their benefit to be considered independent instead of have their family’s financial information taken into EFC consideration. </p>
<p>MQ…once more with vigor. The MOST you are guaranteed as an independent student is the Direct. Loan, and any portion of the Pell Grant to which you are entitled. $11,000 or so…total.</p>
<p>If your “spouse” has income or assets, hers will need to be included on your FAFSA, and yours on hers.</p>
<p>AND any college can ask you to document how you are paying your living expenses. They will want to know if you are receiving any support from anyone else to pay your bills. Clearly, if your income is $0 and you are claiming to be independent financially, they will want to make sure you are NOT receiving support from anyone else. </p>
<p>NO,the law does not require you to live with anyone, whether you are married to them or not. What is needed for financial aid purposes, is another story. </p>
<p>However the flaws in your plan are as follows:</p>
<p>Once you are married, you will have to file your taxes either married filing jointly or married filing separately. FAFSA also asks what day did you get married. As a newlywed with 2 separate addresses (unless your spouse is deployed in the military), it is going to raise some huge red flags and prompt verification.</p>
<p>Your having 0 in income is automatically going to prompt a low income verification, where you will have to provide written proof of how you are eating every day and how are your bills being paid. Monies paid on your behalf is considered income for financial aid purposes and must be reported on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, you are not eligible for automatic 0 EFC, even if your income meets the criteria. As others have stated, once you add the your income & assets, your spouses’s income/assets, any monies, you receive from your parents, your in-laws or any other people, your EFC will be determined.</p>
<p>If you are independent solely because you are married, if you divorce and no not met any other means for being independent, you revert back to being a dependent student.</p>
<p>This isn’t a legal advice forum so, yes, it was the wrong place to look for legal advice. I don’t understand why you thought we could help just because some of us are/were married. Do you imagine we all ran to our lawyers before we got married and asked if we had to actually LIVE with our spouse after the wedding? Like Thumper said, the amount of aid you could get as an independent is limited, so you might not be gaining much by getting married anyway. And none of us can tell you how much you stand to lose if your “spouse” has “bad intentions.”</p>
<p>I actually don’t care why you get married. Marriage has up until extremely recent times been primarily about property transfer. “Love” was almost never part of the equation. In fact, love was discouraged in many cultures between marriage partners because it would get in the way of x, y, or z. Generally, in the West, it would get in the way of your relationship with God. </p>
<p>With that said, good luck finding a woman in a similar situation that is willing to do this. Your best bet is to just wait a few years until you’re independent because of age. Or, you could work your way through college. </p>
<p>Btw, fwiw, even if you get an auto zero EFC, that only entitles you to a full Pell. As someone who was a full Pell student during undergrad, I can tell you that it’s just a drop in the bucket even at public schools. </p>