Separated parents confusion

My mom does not know anything about her taxes and how the whole thing works, so I filled out the CSS and Fafsa by myself.

The current situation is that my father lives overseas in another country and I am not sure of his current financial situation, but he has minimum income.

My mother files as head of household and made 40,000 last year.

My brother is currently in college.

On my CSS profile, I put separated as my parents situation because I thought it just meant they didn’t live together under one roof. But financially and legally, they are married.

I made a stupid mistake but it is such a huge one and I do not know what to do…
My colleges require and Noncustodial profile but both of my parents are custodial. Should I email all of my colleges explaining my situation?

Either way you will have to provide your father’s income.

What status did you put on your FAFSA? The marital status on the FAFSA should match that on the Profile.

How long has your father lived overseas? It is possible that the separated status is accurate.

Nevertheless…his info will be needed whether it’s on the reguakr Profile (but since you said not married…not there)…or on the non-custodial parent form.

Also, you said you mom knows “nothing” about taxes? Well…if was she filed, she knows something.

Also, she needs to make sure she qualifies to file as HOH. She might…but she needs to be sure.

Unless your brother is old enough to be independent, your parents financial info. would be on his FAFSA. Who filled out his forms?

I said they were married on the fafsa and my brother filed it on his own. My mother filed ad HOH so they didnt require my dads financial information. My mom honestly does not know anything she has someone file taxes for her. I read somewhere that if css and fasfa dont match up they take the most recent one which is fafsa… i did the css last year. I want to fix it but they dont allow me to. I have no idea what to do.

There are very specific criteria for HOH filing. You can’t just do it because you don’t want to include someone’s financial information.

I’ve never heard of what you are saying about the later form being the gospel. What I have heard…if the FAFSA and Profile don’t match up…you are very likely going to be selected for verification, and you will need to do some explaining and documentation of what you filed.

In addition, HOH is most definitely going to conflict with a "married"status on the FAFSA. Yes, some married folks CAN file as HOH…but you have to meet the criteria for doing so. Your mom will need to document that she has met this criteria.

Okay should i contact an accountant to fix this mess for me? I am pretty sure my mom qualifies for HOH but she probably has no idea what that even means . I also do not think it would be easy to get my fathers financial info bc he lives in another country. Should i be contacting schools about this issue now? The deadline is tomorrow for some of them. Thank you for the help.

If the school requires your father’s information, and you now,where he is, the school is going to require that you submit this info.

I hate to say this…but if the deadline is tomorrow…this is very last minute.

You need to contact the schools and you need to correct the “separated” part. You need to put them as married.

NO do not fill out the NCP. That would be wrong. Your dad’s info needs to go with your moms.