FAFSA custody confusion - ex filed but I have legal custody & claim on taxes

This is actually an important distinction. FAFSA should be filed by the custodial parent - the one who the student lived with the most during the past 12 months. Since you have legal custody and claim your son as a dependent on taxes, you should definitely file the FAFSA, not your ex. It's one application per student, but it needs to be from the correct parent. Your ex's application will likely result in incorrect financial aid calculations since the system would be using his financial information instead of yours.

omg this happened to my sister last year!! her ex did the exact same thing and it was such a headache to fix

The 2025-2026 FAFSA has specific procedures for your situation. As the custodial parent with primary physical custody who claims your son on taxes, you are the correct person to complete the FAFSA. Here's what you should do: 1. Complete your own FAFSA application immediately 2. Contact each college's financial aid office where your son is applying to explain the situation 3. Have documentation ready showing you have custody and tax documentation 4. Your ex should contact the Federal Student Aid office to withdraw his application The system will flag duplicate applications with the same student information, but it won't automatically know which one is correct. This is why proactively contacting the schools is important.

this is why divorced parents make everything so complicated lol... my parents took turns filing my fafsa and it was always a disaster. one year we filed twice and THE FINANCIAL AID OFFICE CALLED ME IN and i had to explain the whole custody thing. sooo embarrassing

I had to call the Federal Student Aid office for a similar issue when my ex and I both submitted FAFSA forms. I spent 3 days trying to get someone on the phone - it was beyond frustrating. When I finally got through, they helped resolve it pretty quickly, but those 3 days of getting disconnected and waiting on hold were maddening. Finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) and got connected right away. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. Saved me hours of stress when dealing with this situation. Once I got through, the agent officially removed my ex's application.

Actually, you might NOT want to file a new application yet. The new FAFSA has stricter rules about corrections. Since your ex already submitted, the system might flag it as potential fraud if a second application suddenly appears. Try these steps first: 1. Your ex needs to contact FAFSA directly to explain the mistake 2. You'll need documentation proving you're the custodial parent 3. The financial aid offices will need notification The FSA officials can properly remove the incorrect application and guide you through correctly submitting yours. It's better to handle it this way than having two competing applications in the system.

File your FAFSA immediately. As the custodial parent, your financial information is what matters for the calculation. Then reach out to your son's school's financial aid office directly. They deal with this situation frequently and can help navigate it. The key is making sure the correct application (yours) is the one that gets processed for his Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation.

does your son have any idea which parent makes more money? cuz my friend's parents fought over who would file the FAFSA because the mom made way less and they'd get more aid with her filing it lololol

UPDATE: I submitted my own FAFSA and called the first school on our list. The financial aid officer said this happens frequently with divorced parents and not to worry. She made a note on my son's file that my application is the correct one since I have legal custody. She recommended I contact all other schools too, which I'm doing now. Thanks everyone for your help! Still waiting to hear if my ex will withdraw his application or if we need to handle that through FSA directly.