FAFSA dependency confusion: Adopted by grandparents after legal guardianship - which status to mark?

This happened with my brother! The key is WHEN the guardianship happened. FAFSA specifically asks if he was in legal guardianship "as determined by a court in your state of legal residence." But it means AT THE TIME he's completing the FAFSA. Since he was adopted, he's no longer under guardianship.

Financial aid advisor here - this is a common point of confusion. The FAFSA question about legal guardianship is referring to the student's status at the time of completing the FAFSA or when they become an adult (age 18). Since your son was legally adopted, he is no longer considered in legal guardianship - he is legally the child of his adoptive parents (your parents). He should NOT check the legal guardianship box, and should include your parents' (his adoptive parents') financial information as they are now his legal parents. The guardianship prior to adoption doesn't matter for FAFSA purposes.

@confused_parent - That's exactly right. The grandparents who legally adopted him are now his parents in the eyes of the law (and FAFSA). Their financial information is what's required on the application. The birth parents' information is completely irrelevant for the FAFSA since they no longer have legal parental rights. The system would only accept the adoptive parents' information.

When my daughter applied last year, we dealt with something similr but it was with my sister's kid who we had guardenship of but not adoption. The FAFSA people are SUPER strict about how they define these things. In our case she had to file as independant because the guardianship was still active when she was 18. Sounds like your case is different tho if adoption happened.

I spent HOURS trying to reach someone at Federal Student Aid about a similar situation with my foster son last month. I kept getting disconnected or waiting forever. Finally tried using Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through - they have this service that holds your place in line and calls you when an agent is available. Saved me literally hours of wait time. You can see how it works in their video demo: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. The FSA agent confirmed that adoption supersedes previous guardianship for FAFSA purposes.

The agent told me the system is just checking each box independently without knowing your full story. When someone checks "legal guardianship" it automatically assumes they qualify as independent because MOST people in guardianship don't have parents financially responsible for them. But they don't program for the exception of "guardianship followed by adoption" since it's less common. That's why talking to an actual person can help in these edge cases.

Did the adoptive parents claim him as a dependent on their taxes? If so, that's another clear sign he should be filed as a dependent student on the FAFSA with the adoptive parents' info.

When I worked in financial aid, we saw this exact situation a few times. Here's the simplest way to think about it: FAFSA is asking "Does this student currently have parents who are financially responsible for them?" Through adoption, your parents legally became his parents (not guardians). So yes, he has parents (the adoptive ones), and their information needs to be on the FAFSA. The prior guardianship is now irrelevant because it was replaced by adoption. Had he remained under guardianship until age 18, he would be independent.

@still_confused - The FAFSA question is actually quite specific about this, though the wording can be confusing. It asks if the student "is or was in legal guardianship," BUT there's an important qualifier: "as determined by a court in your state of legal residence." The key part most people miss is that this status must be current OR must have been in place when the student turned 18/became an adult. Since the adoption replaced the guardianship before adulthood, the guardianship provision doesn't apply.

With my daughter, we filled out the FAFSA wrong the first time because we didn't understand these dependency questions. Had to start all over and it delayed her getting her financial aid package by 6 weeks!! Make absolutely sure you get this right the first time or it becomes a huge headache to fix later.

Just want to add that you should keep documentation of the adoption paperwork handy when you submit the FAFSA. Sometimes the system flags unusual situations for verification, and having the legal adoption documents readily available can speed up the process if the financial aid office needs to confirm his status. Also, if any colleges he's applying to have questions about his dependency status, those same documents will be what they need to see. Good luck with the application!

As someone who just went through this process with my niece who had a similar situation, I can confirm what the financial aid experts here are saying is absolutely correct. The adoption legally makes your parents his parents for FAFSA purposes - period. We were initially confused too because she had been in kinship care (guardianship with family) before we adopted her, but once the adoption was finalized, that completely changed her status. Don't overthink it - he's now legally their child, so he files as a dependent with their financial info. The previous guardianship is just history at this point. One tip: when you're filling it out, don't even hesitate on that guardianship question - just click "no" and move forward with confidence!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! As someone new to navigating FAFSA, I had no idea how complex these dependency determinations could get. It sounds like the key takeaway is that adoption completely supersedes any prior guardianship arrangements for FAFSA purposes. One question though - if a student was adopted but the adoptive parents have very low income, would they potentially qualify for more need-based aid than if they had filed as an independent student? I'm just curious about how the financial implications work out in these situations.

This is such an important discussion! I work at a college financial aid office and we see variations of this situation regularly. One thing I'd add that hasn't been mentioned yet is to make sure your son's Social Security records reflect the name change from adoption (if applicable). Sometimes there can be mismatches between the name on the FAFSA and SSA records that can cause processing delays. Also, when he gets to college, it's worth having a brief conversation with the financial aid office there about his background - not because anything is wrong with his application, but because staff who understand his situation can be helpful advocates if any unusual questions come up during his time there. These kinds of family transitions can sometimes create quirky situations down the road (like if he needs to verify family size for aid renewals), and having someone in the aid office who knows his story from day one can save headaches later.

I just wanted to thank everyone who contributed to this thread - what an incredibly helpful discussion! My son and I were really struggling with this dependency question, and all of your explanations have made it crystal clear. We're going to proceed with marking him as a dependent student and including his adoptive parents' (my parents') financial information. It's such a relief to understand that the adoption completely replaced the guardianship for FAFSA purposes. I also really appreciate all the practical tips about keeping adoption paperwork ready for verification, checking Social Security name records, and potentially connecting with the college financial aid office early on. This community is amazing - you've saved us from what could have been a costly mistake or major delays in his financial aid processing!