federally, the custodial parent and stepparent must submit all information. it is expected that a stepparent of a custodial child has assumed parental level resposnsibility. did you not look into this before you got married? it is kind of a big deal...and the federal law.

second...the ncp has only to report their CS federally. now, if there are school level forms (a lot of schools have these) they usually require the information of ALL parents, including the spouse of the NCP.

more importantly, what does the divorce decree say?

oh yeah, file your taxes separately too.

Bullshit! You don't have to provide crap to the school financial aid office as far as your earnings. Refuse. At most the impact will be that SD may not get gov't guaranteed loans.

I sold my busines and transferred from a community college to a BS program when I was 26 (I was ultimately on the 11yr undergrad plan and was in school every semester for 11yrs before I graduated with my BS in engineering). I had battles with the financial aid office because they demanded my parents tax returns. WTF! These people are just more of the bottom 10%ers who end up working for the gov't and they PISS ME OFF (no offese to anyone who works for a govt agency and was not in the bottom 10% of their HS class)!!!!! I was 26 and had been on my own for more than 5yrs paying for school out of my own pocket, married, divorced, bought a home, sold a home, etc... and these moron dipshits wanted my parents tax returns?????

I ended up augmenting the money I had accumulated for school by working and taking out a few private non subsidized loans.

So, DON'T PROVIDE ANY INFORMATION to the idiots in the financial aid office under any circumstances!!!!! You are a Sparent and you income has nothing to do with the kid unless you choose to participate.

Everytime we go to court for my SS's situation I get threatened with contempt because I refuse to provide information on my income. IT IS NONE OF THE MORON IN THE STUPID BLACK ROBES BUSINESS WHAT I MAKE! Of course I ultimately cave and provide information. Tons and tons of it in completely unintelligable format, unorganized and virtually useless unless the dipshit wants to spend days wading through it. But hey, I give them the info and I don't end up in jail for contempt.

Just my opinion of course.

Good luck and best regards,

Success is rarely final. Failure is rarely fatal. It is character, courage and consistency of effort that count. Vince Lombardi (with some minor Rags modifications) To each according to their performance, screw Karl Marx. (Rags)

weell if you deny the kid loans...who is making up the difference? the FAFSA requires both the CP and stepparent's info. without that how do you factor out the aid package? your only way around it is to pay full boat.

seriously...this is all in black and white and written out in law.

oh and under 23 they can and will require your parents tax forms. at 26, you can refuse. trust me, my brother lost out when my father refused to fill out forms for one college.

and your husband just need to come to some agreement. you have to submit your info, but you do not HAVE to provide any money. no requirement at all. your husband and his exwife should have this already worked out and discussed what the division is.

so my suggestion is...protect yourself. if your position is no money...you say no money. and file married but separate for taxes as extra protection. and have separate bank accounts.

of course you should keep your savings. absolutely. but it is going to be hard to get around giving up the forms required, so you just have to do more work on the homefront to protect yourself.

Hell, married or not file single. You pay more taxes but the income will be lower and the Skids will qualify for more financial aid.

Success is rarely final. Failure is rarely fatal. It is character, courage and consistency of effort that count. Vince Lombardi (with some minor Rags modifications) To each according to their performance, screw Karl Marx. (Rags)

WHOA!! Wait a minute here! So you are saying that if I marry my BF in the future but before skids go to college (skids are now 15 & 12), that I will have to provide MY income info. for their FAFSA when they apply for financial aid for college??? Are you sure about that?? That makes absolutely NO sense!!

My BF shares 50/50 joint custody of skids with BM. BM is lazy, underemploys herself, entitlement & drama queen to the max, claims poverty yet uses her CS ($1,500/month) mostly for herself. Here in NYS, even though they share 50/50 custody, the "breadwinner" of the 2 parents MUST pay CS to the other parent.

BF's divorce decree does NOT require BF to pay for college at all, nevermind HAVE to provide his income info. (and I'm not a party to ANY of this crap, so why would they be privy to ANY of my info?).

In all honesty, I feel that unless you are well below poverty level, your child won't get much in financial aid anyway (not even sure if they have subsidized student loans like they did when I put myself through college since my parents couldn't afford it since they had 8 kids!). If BF puts his income on skids FAFSA, I doubt they'll get any help at all (not that he makes all that much).

What's the best way for me to handle this? Married filing separately at tax time after we marry??

Yet ANOTHER aggravation factor that we have to deal with in this never-ending saga called stepparenting. None of the glory, none of the credit (or even thanks half the time), but all of the sacrifice (and sharing the expense of raising kids that aren't our own in the name of love)...

God, I had no idea that I'd have to think about something like this when children that AREN'T EVEN MINE apply for financial aid for college. I don't tell ANYONE how much income I have (or don't have) - it's NO ONE'S business but MINE and Uncle Sam's. I only tell who I CHOOSE to tell (i.e. my BF, a mortgage application when I bought MY house, etc...).

OK, now I'm officially pissed...I think I need to go to bed and deal with this in the morning. RIGHT. AWAY.

I think it's all ridiculous...at 18, if she wants to go to college and I don't want to submit a darn thing, she needs to just pay up...period...I would never supply any financial information for any child that is not my blood...period...and if that means she needs to pay in full, so be it...tough...

here is the deal...colleges are unto their own. they do not in any way need to function in the confines of your divorce decree. for instance, my father never paid CS at all. he did not have to pay for college according to the decree. problem is...collegese really do not care about your problems and what is going on. collegese expect both parents to pay. period. now, fortunately for me i lucked out with the private college i attended (great endowment and financial aid office) and when my mom went in to explain with divorce decree in hand etc and the 17 court appearances for CS, my college waived my father's information requirement. however, my brother was not so lucky with the private college he wanted to attend. they refused to waive my father's forms. my father refused to sign them. my brother did not go to that college. luckily, he got a scholorship to a state school and it worked out.

the FAFSA (which yes I read...and there are reasons I am not married to BF:)) states that the parent who has primary physical custody must (it further defines it as who does the child live with the most) must file the FAFSA. if that parent is remarried, the stepparent must also provide information. if you are the spouse of the NCP the fafsa will not require your information, however a private school may require your information (not always). as for 50/50 well, that gets confusing and i think is best dealt with with a modification to the decree to work out who pays for college. it is also wise to put in their some limitations to choice of college so the kid cannot just pick a 50k school when all you can afford is the local state college. my BFs decree states both parents MUST agree on the application list. trust me, it is one of the first sections I read when i asked about his divorce decree.

a lot of colleges are easy to deal with by the way and you can explain situations.

oh one last thing, providing the information does not mean it has to go to BM. you can provide the information so it goes directly to the federal government or to the school. the BM is not the clearing house of your financial info.

my SS15 is off to college in two years. I have never even met the kid. am i married>? no way in hell!! until 10 months ago I made the most money of the 4 parental type units. no way am i on the hook for any of it. BM told my BF he could just give her tuition money when time came. HAHAHAHAHAH. no way. BF told her "no, check will go directly to the college." i tell you I think he is waiting for the college day because he will still have to pay out money but it will be money directly benefiting his child (college) and will NOT be in BM's bank account at all.

I am the only one of the 'parents' in my group that is somewhat solvent, and if I have to I will submit info, but I have already said, I am not providing jack sh*t for SD's college. I would have at one time but after the massive undermining and disrespect BY SD, that offer is no longer available.

They ask for the step's info to see, if the actual BIO PARENT can contribute - the STEP is NOT required to pay for college. By any law!

I have filed 'married filing separately' even since I was married. You do not have to file together, especially if one of you has ex. credit issues! I am keeping my money separate so there is no question, and it has already come up (from the creditor), that I settle past debts - Hell to the No. I have my own debt!
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“Learn by practice.” - Martha Graham

exactly. absolutely no requirement to pay at all. thisis a big deal. it really is a "sit down" discussion kind of thing. perhaps even hammer out your own agreement in writing so there is no confusion later...

My SS (23ish)filed his FAFSA and was granted a loan (the biobitch co-signed) and no one asked me for a single document as the noncustodial spouse.