Currently I’m going through a very hard divorce, my daughter wants to go live with her dad or it may be that his dad is wanting her to come live with him. But my biggest worry that my husband don’t have enough money even for divorce, not talking about paying for college or support his child. He’s not a good when it comes to keeping a job for about a year and not having another one lined up before his job is done. I also worry about school for my daughter too. Maybe you can give any advices? I live in Utah, maybe anyone know where i can get a legal aid for divorce or any advice about which steps i should take next?
You probably have more immediate problems to worry about than the kid’s college, but you may want to be generally aware of the financial aid implications of parental divorce: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2083835-faq-divorced-parents-financial-aid-and-net-price-calculators.html
I understand that divorce is very money spending procces, the approximate cost of dissolution in my state is somewhere around 14000$, thats why i’m looking for every option available to save those money on college. Currently i’m considering option of using online divorce services: https://divorceonlineutah.com , maybe anyone has experience of using it?I’m kinda afraid to give personal information to a third party company, but it seems like only available option with my budget. At official Utah court web-site https://www.utcourts.gov/howto/divorce/ there’s no list of documents that needed for a divorce, so i don’t know where to seek for a legal help otherwise. I’ve read your article - http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2083835-faq-divorced-parents-financial-aid-and-net-price-calculators.html , and i still couldn’t understand how financial aid is calculated for a student. That’s another issue i have to deal with during divorce process.
If your screen name is your real name, I suggest you contact a mod to get them to help you change it.
Sometimes there are legal aid clinics that will help with divorce, but they are hard to find. You might check with a women’s aid association.
Don’t spend $14k on a divorce if you don’t have $14k in assets to split.
How old is your daughter?
I cannot comment on any of the basic financial issues you are facing with child support, child custody etc but here are some very basic tenets on how divorce affects college financial aid. This is something that might be important to take into account
The most basic form for financial aid that most everyone has to complete is FAFSA . Only the custodial parent’s information goes in that form. The custodial parent is defined irrelevant to what the divorce decree, tax dependent status are. The custodial parent is the one at whose home the child sleeps more. So basically you count nights at whoever’s home. The custodial parent has to report 2018 income for the upcoming 2019-20 school year financial aid. The amount includes child support and other money paid for benefit of the child. Very few schools using FAFSA only meet full need. FAFSA is needed for access to federal and some state money.
So, as you can see, it can be an advantage for the child to spend more time with the parent who is less well off.
However, for schools that tend to give full financial aid, an additional form called the CSS Profile is also needed and there both parents assets and income will be taken into consideration. PROFILE Advil’s tend to be the private , better know schools
That is a very condensed version of the college situation for students with divorced parents.
That’s The very short version of how financial aid works for colleges.
How old is your child? If high school age , what sort of colleges are in the horizon for her? You can look up Net Price Calculators for each college in consideration and full in your financial info to see what is expected from you, and the fsther’s Info to get an idea of what you are expected to pay. Remember FAFSA only schools will not ask for Non custodial parent info other than child support and other payments to the child.
I’m sorry you are going through all of this. Bear in mind that college is only part of the financial picture in divorce settlements.
She is thirteen, she is at that age when there is nobody on Earth smarter than her. I’ve found a contact address of Utah legal aid clinic so i’ll try to visit it tomorrow, maybe they can help.
There are court appointed mediators. These mediators have been thru training, certification, etc. they represent both parents. Their background is that of an attorney or a mental health professional.
How are you supporting yourself now? Do you work?
If I were you I would go for the quickest divorce possible, another word, do not nickel and dime about your assets/alimony/child support and waste your money on legal fees.
We had quite a bit of assets when I got divorced and I was the sole breadwinner (and a woman). My divorce cost $3000 with a lawyer. We divided up our assets ourselves, so by the time we went to the lawyer we already had the terms ready. I did it by giving him a fair amount, and he also knew it was a fair amount (he wasn’t going to do better by dragging it out).
Talk to your lawyer, but let him/her know what’s important to you and not spend time on little stuff.
Once you get to this point, it is best to move on. It is draining to be in a bitter divorce. You still have a young daughter who you still want to have a relationship in the future.
$3000 is a fair amount, but $14000 - not. I’m gonna hire attorneys only as a last resort option. Yes, i work as a nurse, i have a day-off tomorrow so i hope things became more clear to me after i visit legal aid clinic. Involving mediators also seems like a good idea!