FAFSA submission with divorced parents - who completes form for 19-year-old?
I'm super confused about completing my son's FAFSA for the upcoming year. Last year, my ex-husband and I filed jointly and completed the FAFSA together. Now we've divorced and filed our taxes separately this past year. My son is 19 and lives with me when he's not at college. I'm paying most of his expenses, but his dad helps with some tuition costs. I'm not sure if I should be completing the FAFSA alone this time or if my ex still needs to provide his information? The studentaid.gov information is so confusing when it comes to divorced parents. Anyone been through this transition before?
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Giovanni Greco
As the custodial parent (the one your son lives with most when not in school), you are the one who should complete the FAFSA. Since you're divorced and filed taxes separately, only your income and assets will be considered for his SAI calculation. Your ex-husband's information won't be needed unless you've remarried - then your current spouse's information would be required. Make sure you select 'Divorced/Separated' for your marital status on the form.
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Amara Eze
•Thank you! If my ex is still contributing to tuition, will that affect anything? Do I need to report that as some kind of extra income for my son?
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Fatima Al-Farsi
I just went through this EXACT thing!!!! The FAFSA system is SO BROKEN when it comes to divorce situations. My daughter's aid was COMPLETELY messed up because they kept trying to include my ex's income even though we're divorced. I had to file THREE appeals and spent HOURS on the phone trying to get it fixed. The system is designed to PUNISH divorced families!!!
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Amara Eze
•Oh no, that sounds awful! Did you eventually get it resolved? I'm worried about making mistakes that could delay my son's aid.
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Dylan Wright
The parent who provides more than 50% of the student's financial support is typically the one who completes the FAFSA. In your case, it sounds like that's you. Any payments your ex-husband makes directly to the college for tuition should be reported as untaxed income to the student on the FAFSA. This is considered financial support but isn't taxed, so it falls into a different category. Look for the section about 'money received or paid on your behalf' when completing the student portion.
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Amara Eze
•That makes sense! I'll look for that section about untaxed income when we're filling it out. I don't want to underreport anything and get flagged for verification.
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Sofia Torres
my parents r divorced 2 and my mom does my fafsa. dad pays child support tho but that doesnt count on the form. its ez just do it urself since he lives with u
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Amara Eze
•Thanks for sharing your experience! It's reassuring to know others navigate this successfully.
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GalacticGuardian
When my wife and I divorced, I tried calling FSA for the exact same question and was on hold for over 2 hours before getting disconnected. I eventually used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to an agent in about 15 minutes who clarified everything. Their video demo shows how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. The agent confirmed that only the custodial parent (which sounds like you) needs to complete the FAFSA, and explained exactly how to report the other parent's contributions. Saved me a ton of stress during an already difficult time.
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Amara Eze
•I hadn't heard of that service before - it sounds helpful. FSA phone lines are notoriously difficult to get through. I'll check it out if I run into issues filling out the form. Thanks!
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Dmitry Smirnov
just so u know this question comes up a LOT and the rules changed again for 2025-2026 FAFSA. used to be more complicated but now its pretty much just whoever the kid lives with more. my sis went through this last yr
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Ava Rodriguez
•The new FAFSA actually makes this much clearer! Now they specify that it's the parent who provided more than 50% of support AND who the student lived with more during the 12 months prior to filing. The simplified form is so much better than the old one for these situations.
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Ava Rodriguez
Just to clarify a few points: 1) Only the custodial parent completes the FAFSA (you, in this case), 2) Child support received DOES count as untaxed income on the FAFSA, but money your ex pays directly to the school is handled differently, 3) If you've remarried, your current spouse's information must be included regardless of their relationship to your son. The Direct2Student section of the FAFSA has a great worksheet specifically for divorced/separated parents that might help you organize the information before you start filling out the actual form.
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Amara Eze
•This is so helpful! I'll definitely look for that worksheet. We don't have a formal child support arrangement - he just helps with tuition and some expenses directly. I'm not remarried, so that simplifies things at least.
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Sean Murphy
I went through this exact situation two years ago! Since your son lives with you primarily and you're covering most expenses, you're definitely the custodial parent who should complete the FAFSA. One thing that helped me was keeping detailed records of all expenses I paid vs. what my ex contributed - made it much easier to determine the 50%+ support requirement and accurately report everything. The new FAFSA is actually much clearer about divorced parent situations than the old one was. Don't stress too much about it - sounds like you have a straightforward case where you're clearly the custodial parent.
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