Severing Custody for Financial Aid

[TipsyTraveler]

I haven’t seen this posted yet.

An Illinois investigation found wealthy parents are giving up custody of their children so they can receive need-based financial aid for which they would otherwise be ineligible. The lengths people will go to cheat the system...

From the article: “If it is legal, at what point is it wrong?”

https://www.propublica.org/article/...-fafsa-parents-guardianship-children-students

 

[kdonnel]

Anytime you create a rule, people will find a way around it.

Laws and rules generate lots of unintended consequences.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Cheating the system is always wrong, regardless of whether it is legal. But the system is kind of broken, in my experience. I thought it was unfair that my mother's income was used to determine how much financial aid I qualified for. My mother did not financially support me in college, not one penny. I had to work full-time and take out loans to make up for the "family contribution" until i got married, at which point her income wasn't held against me anymore.

 

[amberpi]

I wonder how that would play out between shared custody arrangements.

 

[Kennywood]

Laws are like locks; they keep honest people honest.

 

[luvsJack]

I wonder how that would play out between shared custody arrangements.

Its supposed to be whoever pays 51% of the child's support. But in all honesty, the parent who makes the least money usually files. Custody papers aren't usually checked unless there is a major red flag.

 

[Floridaman999]

I guess they better figure out a way to close the loophole if they don't want people to take advantage.

 

[luvsJack]

Cheating the system is always wrong, regardless of whether it is legal. But the system is kind of broken, in my experience. I thought it was unfair that my mother's income was used to determine how much financial aid I qualified for. My mother did not financially support me in college, not one penny. I had to work full-time and take out loans to make up for the "family contribution" until i got married, at which point her income wasn't held against me anymore.

How old were you at the time? Many, MANY years ago, when I went to college, they didn't actually check anything much. If I said I didn't live with Mom and could provide even some horrid facsimile of a rent receipt, that was all it took. Well, too many people cheated the system and they made the cut off age 24. Or married or have a child. And even having a child doesn't guarantee anything.

If too much of the giving up custody to cheat happens, they will change the game again. Sadly it will end up hurting the students that really need the aid. The 24 rule does.

 

[georgina]

From the article: “If it is legal, at what point is it wrong?”

To me, it is wrong when it is unethical or immoral, which this would fall under. Taking advantage of something to which you are not entitled.

I went to one of the talks lawyers give about estate planning recently. Plenty of talk about locking assets up in trusts so Medicaid will pay for nursing home care. You are supposed to give up your access to the assets but of course there are ways around that. I don't mind middle class people trying to save their home, but I believe multi-millionaires should pay for their own darn care!

 

[georgina]

Cheating the system is always wrong, regardless of whether it is legal. But the system is kind of broken, in my experience. I thought it was unfair that my mother's income was used to determine how much financial aid I qualified for. My mother did not financially support me in college, not one penny. I had to work full-time and take out loans to make up for the "family contribution" until i got married, at which point her income wasn't held against me anymore.

I lived with both my parents and they did not support me at all either in college. They could afford it, they just chose not to. I did finally get my own apartment and got some help my senior year. If all it took was to say they are not supporting their children, everyone would do it!

 

[Cindy's Mom]

I haven’t seen this posted yet.

An Illinois investigation found wealthy parents are giving up custody of their children so they can receive need-based financial aid for which they would otherwise be ineligible. The lengths people will go to cheat the system...

From the article: “If it is legal, at what point is it wrong?”

https://www.propublica.org/article/...-fafsa-parents-guardianship-children-students

The part that is illegal is the parents severing legal ties from their children, swearing in front of judge when they're lying under oath. That's the loophole. It's not necessarily them having the kid emancipated for aid, its the step before that.

And I agree with other....why the heck should my income matter a hill of beans if my daughter qualifies for aid? That a lot of BS.

 

[Darcy03231]

I wonder how that would play out between shared custody arrangements.

I can tell you that for me, my ex-husband, who is on social security disability, filled out the paperwork. If I had filled it out, I would have had to include my current husband's income as it's based on "household" income, even though he has no legal responsibility for my children.

Personally, I think the system needs to be revamped, especially in cases of shared custody. Mom and Dad should both have to provide income information and step-parents should be left out of the equation.

 

[cinnaminny]

Laws are like locks; they keep honest people honest.

It sure seems that way sometimes.

It’s beyond unethical for wealthy families to do this especially if it takes away from students who can’t afford to go without it.

 

[AndreaDM]

I am divorced and have sole custody of my daughter who will be a junior this fall. I have been with my fiance over 4 years but have no plans of marriage until she is done with college, it is total BS that HIS income would also be a factor in deciding financial aid to MY daughter...meanwhile my ex, her father gets to wash his hands of the whole deal. We are in a state where child support ends when they graduate high school. I wouldn't go as far as to give up custody, but I will postpone marriage even though we live together, he has his own son to support, his income should not factor into my daughter's situation at all.

 

[mom2rtk]

Anybody who isn't stopped by the act of signing away guardianship of their teenage child is not worth commenting on. Just despicable.

 

[kerry1379]

I am confused. I have a special needs kiddo who is nearing adulthood and I will need to pursue guardianship as he is mentally stuck around age 3. Everything I have researched and been told about by other fellow special needs parents in similar positions-is that this process can be very hard. The state views giving up individual rights (as you do when you give guardianship to another-they can make medical decisions and such for you) very seriously-and rightly so. Therefore it can be a very difficult process. If proving to the court that my kid-who is incontinent, cannot dress and feed himself, and is unable to make basic safety decisions is hard when some of his disability can be visually seen-how on earth are these other people so cavalierly gaining guardianship over a typically developed almost adult? I mean I understand if Mom or Dad is unfit, but this literally comes across as just for the heck of it.

 

[piccolopat]

I am confused. I have a special needs kiddo who is nearing adulthood and I will need to pursue guardianship as he is mentally stuck around age 3. Everything I have researched and been told about by other fellow special needs parents in similar positions-is that this process can be very hard. The state views giving up individual rights (as you do when you give guardianship to another-they can make medical decisions and such for you) very seriously-and rightly so. Therefore it can be a very difficult process. If proving to the court that my kid-who is incontinent, cannot dress and feed himself, and is unable to make basic safety decisions is hard when some of his disability can be visually seen-how on earth are these other people so cavalierly gaining guardianship over a typically developed almost adult? I mean I understand if Mom or Dad is unfit, but this literally comes across as just for the heck of it.

In case you don't know, make sure you get him on SS before he becomes an adult.

 

[kerry1379]

In case you don't know, make sure you get him on SS before he becomes an adult.

The last I checked (granted, which was about 10 years ago), our income was too high. We were told that we would have to give up custody and have him become a ward of the state (to separate his income from ours) which we aren't willing to do. Thankfully, we have the means to care for him so we will.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

How old were you at the time? Many, MANY years ago, when I went to college, they didn't actually check anything much. If I said I didn't live with Mom and could provide even some horrid facsimile of a rent receipt, that was all it took. Well, too many people cheated the system and they made the cut off age 24. Or married or have a child. And even having a child doesn't guarantee anything.

If too much of the giving up custody to cheat happens, they will change the game again. Sadly it will end up hurting the students that really need the aid. The 24 rule does.

I was probably 17 when I filled out the FAFSA, still living with my mother. I didn't turn 18 until a month after graduating from high school. I graduated high school in 1999, and even when I moved in with my now-ex-husband, they still used my mother's income to calculate my financial aid until I was married.

 

[luvsJack]

I was probably 17 when I filled out the FAFSA, still living with my mother. I didn't turn 18 until a month after graduating from high school. I graduated high school in 1999, and even when I moved in with my now-ex-husband, they still used my mother's income to calculate my financial aid until I was married.

Yeah it’s unfair for students like you and the pp whose parents really do not support them or hep with school but because so many were cheating to get the aid, the made it 24 to be an independent student.