[crunchyconmomma]

anyone know if filing bankruptcy will affect my ability to get financial aid next year? ex is insisting that he will be declaring, including on the home we both own and mortgaged b/c the child support amount he is being ordered to pay will be too high. (long story, but anything else is NOT an option to me- he will pay that amount unless he finds a way to scam the system because i am not bargaining. he does NOT need to keep the house and should have just agreed to sell months ago when i said we needed to sell it and he should get an apartment. or he should not have quit jobs and taken successively less pay to his current pay level which is HALF of what it was 18 months ago. kids and i live with my mom now, so the bankruptcy is not going to evict us from our home.
but i am returning to school and have all the financial ducks in a row for this year, but just panicked about next year. so help me, if he manages to take away my family and my happy marriage and my sons' father with this confession of being a transsexual who is now undergoing therapy for sex-change surgery and taking hormones to grow breasts and be able to cry and he THEN manages to effectively take away my dreams of a college degree with his irresponsibility, i will GIVE him a reason to cry!!!

please tell me what you know about bankruptcy and financial aid, mamas!

 

[woobysma]

I don't believe it will affect anything. How do you plan on filing your taxes this year? The FAFSA is based on your taxes, so he's considered if you're filing jointly - but I don't think your credit comes into play to any huge extent.

When are you going to be legally divorced? If you're heading in that direction, maybe he could wait until after - then it won't affect you at all.

 

[sparklefairy]

Even if you're filing jointly, you may be able to file something that states that you're getting divorced (you have to have filed) and here are your new living conditions financially. This can also be done sometimes if your financial picture has changed due to a job change or loss.

 

[lauraheartslittle1]

I've heard that if you are legally separated by 12/31, you can file as head of household... meaning you have a legal separation that has been approved by the courts.

 

[crunchyconmomma]

yea, i had to submit the addendum to the FAFSA for this year b/c when i first filed it we were still legally together in all ways and i moved out AFTER i got it back.
oh, and if he's filing bankruptcy, i will have to also. i can't afford to take on the mortgage payments and the debt he ran up (some of it in MY name).

but what about the fact that i have student loans that were granted based on my FAFSA filing status? that's credit. is it different since it's secured by the government? i am just concerned that come next year i won't be able to get the student aid because of this predicament i am now in.

 

[sweetfeet]

Student loans aren't granted by credit score. Thankfully.

I have a repo and other bad junk on my credit report and was still able to get student loans last year for school. Now if your looking to bank based student loans and such they will look at credit.

 

[mama40]

Yep, no FICO for FAFSA, so don't worry about those loans. However, as I'm sure you're aware, the fed-loan max is based on the hypothetical single childless student who can live in a drawer somewhere. They'll make some adjustments for childcare, but not much.

Frankly, this is not a terrible thing. I know it's all the rage to take out zillions in student loans, but I think in general it's a bad idea. They take for.ev.er to pay off, and the current rate is not insignificant. Meantime you're at a stage where you want to be socking it away for the kids' school & retirement, not accumulating large debt. If you can chill and pull things together until you're going mostly on someone else's dime, I'd do that. It may not take you very long, either, depending on what you want to do; you sound pretty together, and your kids aren't babies, iirc.

Where are you looking to go, anyway?