Single Adoptive Divorced parent - FAFSA Status

I got divorced years before adopting my daughter as a single parent. Last year, I filed FAFSA as DIVORCED, because I had to choose between NEVER MARRIED (which isn’t true), or divorced - but that makes it look like my ex is my daughter’s father on paper, since it refers to '‘parents’…even though he isn’t her parent. I only filled out the detailed information for one parent, though. I don’t think it really affects anything, and since there’s no actual choice that’s true for my situation, I was going to do it the same way this year…but I just thought I’d ask for opinions/suggestions, or if anyone had a similar situation? Thanks

For FAFSA you have filled it out correctly. You are divorced and they only care about the parent(s) the child lives with more than 50% of the time. That’s you.

I don’t think I really have a choice - but it’s really not ‘correct,’ because after you choose ‘divorced,’ the next question is:

“What is the month and year your parents’ were married, separated, divorced or widowed?”

However, my ex-husband was not her parent. She does not have a second parent. So that line always throws me. Thanks for your guidance~

Your ex is not her parent, but you are. And you are divorced. Your FAFSA should reflect that you are divorced, along with the date of the divorce. The purpose of the question is to determine whether you should include a spouse’s income. The date is important, since you could have been married in the base year used for FAFSA even though you are not married at the time you filled out the FAFSA - for example, if you filed taxes in 2019 as married filing jointly but are no longer married, you would be able to separate out your own income from the joint filing for FAFSA purposes.

The FAFSA experts can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think FAFSA counts a married couple living with the student as “parents” financially, and discounts the non-custodial bioparent’s household situation. I think the assumption is that if two adults are in a marriage, both act as co-parental figures to the child regardless of biological/adoptive parent status.

Therefore, your most recent now-divorced husband would have had his income included with yours as her financial custodians if you two were still married. It wouldn’t matter to FAFSA whether or not he legally adopted your adopted child. The same as if you had a biological child and married a man who was not her bio-father - for FAFSA, his income and assets would be counted.

Now that you are divorced and he is not living with the child, his finances do not matter for FAFSA.

OTOH, I imagine this scenario might possibly be a little stickier when filling out the CSS Profile. But I’m not sure.

I got divorced almost 30 years ago. My kid is 18. No connection between them

@jotvjo the questions are there to determine if you are married now. Just put that 30 year old date of your divorce in that next question.

Reason being…if you are married, your spouse income and assets would be counted in the FAFSA whether this is a parent…or not.

You aren’t married. Put the date of your divorce.

I just had to file for a FAFSA myself. Even though I put in my remarriage date (2020), it still wanted my spouses information from his 2018 taxes (when we werent married). I know it doesnt quite make sense.

@2plustrio if you were married the day you filed that FAFSA, then your spouses income from 2019 would be required (for the 2021-2022 FAFSA).

If you were filing a 2020-2021 FAFSA, the 2018 income would be required.

^^This
Just put your 30 year old divorce date into the field.

This may not be common, but this happens. Many divorced women later adopt or give birth to children while single.

The FAFSA may get pulled for verification, so be ready to supply the divorce date cert and the adoption date cert to show that there’s no connection.

@mom2collegekids the adoption date cert isn’t important in this context at all. The parent might need to prove she is divorced.

Regardless of when this child was adopted, if the parent IS married the day the FAFSA is filed, the spouse needs to be included on the form. Period. Wouldn’t matter at all that the parent adopted the child while single.

But proving divorce…that might be important. That is why the question is there…to determine that the parent wasn’t married on the date the FAFSA was filed.

I know a lot of singles who have adopted and it hasn’t been an issue on FAFSA. Even if they were once married, FAFSA views the student as having a single parent.

What can be an issue is if the adoption was international, the schools sometimes ask for proof of citizenship. This has happened even if the SSA has the student as a citizen. You then have to provide proof to the school, IN PERSON with original document (Certificate of citizenship or passport). I think this is happening less since many foreign adoptees have citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act and were issued SSNs after they had been granted citizenship, but the SSA is full of errors.

It didn’t happen to my daughter and there were never any problems in her status or admission even though she originally had a green card and I had to change her status at SSA, but it did happen to a lot of people I know.