FAFSA remarriage confusion: Does my daughter mark me as married if my ex never completed FAFSA before?
Help! I'm stressed about my daughter's FAFSA for 2025-2026. I'm remarried and my daughter lives with me most of the time (about 70%). My current husband and I have been married for 3 years now. When my daughter starts the FAFSA student section, I'm confused about what she should put for the parent's marital status. My ex-husband has NEVER completed FAFSA in previous years - he wasn't involved in her college planning at all. Does she put that I (her mother) am married? Or would this somehow require my ex-husband's information too? I don't want to mess up her financial aid by putting the wrong information on the very first section! Has anyone dealt with a similar situation?
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Miguel Herrera
Your daughter should select that her parents are 'Married or Remarried' and then provide information for you and your current husband. Since she lives with you most of the time, you're considered the custodial parent for FAFSA purposes. Your ex-husband's information is not needed at all. The FAFSA doesn't require information from both biological parents - only the custodial parent and their current spouse if they've remarried.
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Ava Thompson
AuthorThank you so much for clarifying! So she'll just need my information and my current husband's information? That's such a relief. I was worried we'd somehow need to track down my ex's tax documents and that would've been a nightmare.
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Zainab Ali
I went thru this last yr with my son!! its confusing but u only need to put YOUR info & ur current husbands stuff. Its based on who the kid lives with most. My ex never did anything with FAFSA either lol
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Ava Thompson
AuthorThat's exactly my situation! So glad to hear from someone who's been through it. Did your son get his financial aid package without any issues?
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Zainab Ali
yep! everything went fine after we submitted it. they never asked for my ex's info at all
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Connor Murphy
I hate to disagree with everyone here, but the FAFSA rules changed recently. Now they look at who claimed the student on taxes most recently, not just who they live with. You should double-check if your ex claimed her as a dependent before you submit. The whole system is ridiculous now with the new SAI formula.
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Miguel Herrera
That's not accurate. For FAFSA purposes, the custodial parent is the parent with whom the student lived the most during the 12 months prior to completing the FAFSA. Tax dependency has no bearing on this determination. Since OP's daughter lives with her 70% of the time, she is clearly the custodial parent. The SAI formula changes didn't alter this particular rule.
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Connor Murphy
Maybe I'm confusing it with the CSS Profile then. That one definitely cares about tax dependency. The whole system is so confusing they should just make it simple!!
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Yara Nassar
The form should have BOTH bio parents unless you have sole custody. That's what the financial aid office at my daughter's college told us. But then they contradict themselves all the time so who knows lol
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StarGazer101
This is incorrect for FAFSA. You're likely thinking of the CSS Profile, which some private colleges require in addition to FAFSA. The CSS Profile often requires non-custodial parent information, while FAFSA only requires the custodial parent (the one the student lived with most) and that parent's spouse if they're remarried. FAFSA never requires both biological parents unless they're still married to each other.
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Keisha Jackson
Good luck trying to reach anyone at Federal Student Aid to ask this question directly! I spent 3 HOURS on hold last week trying to get a simple answer about my son's verification process. Never got through.
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Paolo Romano
I had the same problem but found a way around it! I used this service called Claimyr that got me through to an actual FAFSA agent in about 10 minutes. They basically hold your place in line and call you when an agent is available. Saved me hours of frustration. Their website is claimyr.com and they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. After struggling with the parent remarriage question, I actually got clear answers from a real person.
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StarGazer101
Financial aid advisor here. To clarify the correct procedure: 1. Since your daughter lives with you more than 50% of the time, you are the custodial parent for FAFSA purposes. 2. As a remarried custodial parent, both YOUR information and your CURRENT HUSBAND'S information must be reported on the FAFSA. 3. Your ex-husband's information is NOT required. This is true regardless of who claims the student as a tax dependent. The determining factor for FAFSA is physical custody (where the student lives most), not legal custody or tax dependency status. The 2025-2026 FAFSA will use your 2023 tax information. Make sure both you and your current husband have your 2023 tax returns and W-2s available when completing the form.
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Ava Thompson
AuthorThank you so much for this detailed explanation! One quick follow-up question - do we need to report our household size as 3 then (me, my husband, and my daughter)? Or would I also include my husband's child from his previous marriage who stays with us every other weekend?
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StarGazer101
Your household size would include: 1. You 2. Your current husband 3. Your daughter 4. Your husband's child IF you provide more than 50% of their support, even if they don't live with you full-time. Since your husband's child is only with you every other weekend, you would only include them if you still provide the majority of their financial support throughout the year. If their other parent provides most of their support, you would not include them in your household size.
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Zainab Ali
My sister put the wrong marital status on her kids FAFSA and they had to redo THE WHOLE THING!! make sure u get it right the first time!!!
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Ava Thompson
AuthorOh no! That's exactly what I'm afraid of. Did they lose out on any aid because of the mistake?
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Zainab Ali
they got less money than expected but idk if it was bcuz of that or something else. just took forrreeeverrr to fix 🙄
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Ava Thompson
Update: We started the FAFSA last night and selected 'Married or Remarried' for my status. It then asked for both my and my husband's information just like you all said. We haven't submitted yet since we need to double-check some income details, but it's a relief to know we're on the right track! Thanks everyone for the help!
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Miguel Herrera
Glad to hear you're making progress! Remember to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool if possible - it automatically pulls your tax information and reduces the chance of errors. Good luck with the rest of the process!
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Yara Sayegh
Great to see you got it sorted out! Just a tip from someone who's been through this process twice - make sure to save a copy of your completed FAFSA before submitting, and keep all your tax documents handy in case the school requests verification later. The IRS Data Retrieval Tool that Miguel mentioned is definitely the way to go if it's available for your tax year. It sounds like you're well on your way to getting this done correctly the first time!
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