<p>My daughter is the beneficiary of both a 529 and an UTMA. Her father is the custodian of both these accounts, but he is not the custodial parent, so we are not putting any of his financial information on the FAFSA. Do I still need to claim these accounts under my daughter's assets? I wouldn't claim them under my assets, because my name is not on them.</p>
<p>Thanks,
Jane</p>
<p>Probably best to talk to a tax advisor. To me it looks like there is a legal question, but there is also the ethical question.</p>
<p>If this money is going towards your child’s schooling, it seems the ethical thing is to report it, as it is helping fund her education.</p>
<p>You don’t report them if they belong to a grand-parent, so I would assume you don’t report them if they belong to the non-custodial parent either. Just like you don’t report
any of their assets. Even though the beneficiary is the child, the owner can use the money any way they want to (after penalties of course).</p>
<p>If the UTMA is in the child’s name (with parent as custodian), it should be counted as a student asset.</p>
<p>Back in 2008 when my son first applied to college I was advised, whomever pays taxes on the monies must claim them. For savings bonds, 529’s etc linked to your child’s name, those are also considered their monies and must legally be reported. This even applied to court settlements BTW, even if the child does not have access to the monies until a certain age.</p>
<p>Assets that are owned by the student must be reported on FAFSA, regardless of who the custodian is. Assets that have the student as beneficiary but that are owned by anyone else besides the custodial parent are not reported on FAFSA.</p>
<p>The UTMA is an account owned by a minor, so the student owns the UTMA even if the non-custodial parent is the custodian of the account. The 529 is owned by someone other than the custodial parent, assuming it’s not a UTMA/529. </p>
<p>The FAFSA only requires information about assets owned by the custodial parent and/or owned by the student. Assets owned by the non-custodial parent or other relatives, even when the student is a beneficiary, are not reported.</p>
<p>For FAFSA:</p>
<ol>
<li>Report the UTMA as a student asset because the student owns it.</li>
<li>Do not report the 529 because assets owned by people other than the custodial parent are not reportable on FAFSA</li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. That seems very clear vballmom - after I reread the FAFSA instructions, it did make more sense. So we’re claiming her UTMA but not her 529. Thanks…</p>