<p>so they got divorced about a 1.5 months ago. my mom is a stay home mom (dislocated homemaker?) and has no income or savings. she receives about 700 in child support for my little brother. i dont think she got any alimony. the house is under her name but my dad is paying the mortgage. right now, my dad still lives with us and he makes a little over 60000 before taxes. he pays pretty much all the bills. i just submitted the fafsa using my moms info, and it yielded a EFC of 0. it didn't asked for my dad's info. my mom hasn't filled taxes yet. when should she file taxes when she doesnt have any income? also, I'm going to have to do CSS PROFILE for Emory. How will the current living situation and recent divorce impact my FA? I'm not sure if I did FAFSA right because last year (when they were married) I didn't qualify for Pell but now I do. I'm really confused :(</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but I think that for the FAFSA, if you live equally with both parents, you are required to use the parent who provides you with more financial support as your custodial parent. Generally this is the parent earning the higher salary. </p>
<p>I am not sure how this impacts CSS schools.</p>
<p>Hopefully Mom2K, Kelsmom, or another super knowledgeable poster will log on and be able to answer you more specifically.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR using CC</p>
<p>See Application and Verification Guide 2012–2013
I changed 2011 to 2012 in the following quote
</p>
<p>Well, on the FAFSA, it asks for your custodial parents information. So, if they are divorced, it is the parent you spent the most amount of TIME with during the past 12 months (I’m going through a similar situation). If you did in fact spend more time with your mom, list her as your custodial parent and give her financial info.</p>
<p>On the CSS, if you put your mom as the custodial parent though, you will still need your dad to submit a non-custodia parent form (they tell you how to do that) with all your Dad’s info. </p>
<p>Good Luck! Hope it helps!</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter who has “custody.” The litmus test is the person with whom you have lived the most in the past 12 months … and if the number of days is equal, you must use the parent who contributed more financially during that time period If Dad is still in the home, he is the parent you must use. You need to contact each financial aid office to explain the situation & ask how they want you to proceed with fixing things.</p>
<p>Yes, it looks like you have to use the dad’s info since you live with him equally as well and he has the bigger income. </p>
<p>As for your mom filing taxes…since your parents were married for most of 2012, aren’t they supposed to file together?</p>
<p>No, they don’t have to … even married people never “have” to file together.</p>
<p>Your dad still lives with you…and therefore you live with him. The RULE For the FAFSA in this case is that you use the parent providing the most support, as you live equally with both parents. Therefore…it sounds to ME as though your dad would be your custodial parent, not your mom. You would list your dad on the FAFSA, not your mom at all.</p>
<p>For CSS Profile schools, your DAD would complete the CSS Profile. Your mom would complete the non-custodial parent Profile, if required by the school.</p>
<p>I realize that people can file separately, but you lose many of the deductions that way. Since there is a mortgage with interest to deduct, it doesn’t make much sense to file separately when mom has no income.</p>
<p>The parents can’t file a joint return if they’re not married on Dec 31. One of them can file as head of household if he/she is claiming the students as dependents, and the other would file as single. If they each claim one child, they can each file as head of household.</p>
<p>For tax purposed, the parents were not married on December 31, 2012. Therefore, they file separate tax returns - they are not entitled to file as married. They do not lose any deductions, because they are either single of head of household. Because the mother does not work for wages, she likely has little income (though that does not mean she has none). She will file a tax return based on whatever income she does have (interest income, capital gains, etc).</p>
<p>If her income is low enough, because she and her ex-husband lived together the entire year, he may be able to claim her as a dependent on his tax return. The basic requirements are for them to live together the entire year, for him to provide over 50% of her support, if her income was low enough. Note that because she has no earned income, there is likely no benefit to her claiming either of the kids. If she did get alimony, that is taxable income (which is deducted from his income), but if only child support it is not taxable to her.</p>
<p>As for FAFSA, because the family is still living together, and the student lived the entire year with BOTH parents, the father must fill out the FAFSA, because he wins the tie-breaker in terms of custody. Even if the divorce decree says otherwise - the divorce decree and taxes have no bearing over dependency for FAFSA purposes.</p>
<p>Sorry, for some reason I was mixing up those who are in the process of divorce with those whose divorce is final…as in the case of the OP’s parents. </p>
<p>It’s interesting that she gets paid $700 a month in child support for the younger sibling when both parents live in the home and the dad pays the bills.</p>
<p>So I should use my dad’s info for fafsa. Since I submitted it today, can I just fix it in the next few days since the deadline isn’t until feb 1? Also, how can my parents file the taxes together?</p>
<p>Your parents can’t file their taxes together. If your mother has low enough income that she doesn’t need to file her own taxes, your father can file as Head of Household (because of the kids), and can claim her as a dependent because she lived with him the entire year. She would be what is called a “Qualifying Relative” for tax purposes, while you are a “Qualifying Child.” This is not the same as filing together.</p>
<p>You can update your FAFSA online, but you may still need to contact schools where it was already submitted. I know for CSS Profile, you can only update online for school you haven’t submitted to yet.</p>