Which parent fills out the FAFSA if parents are divorced?

Who counts as a parent on the 2027-28 form

The form defines legal parents as biological or adoptive parents, as determined by the state (for example, a parent listed on the birth certificate). Grandparents, foster parents, legal guardians, widowed stepparents, aunts, uncles and siblings are not parents on this form unless they legally adopted the student. This only matters if the student is dependent; see the dependency checker first.

Divorced or separated parents: one parent answers

If the student’s parents are divorced or separated, the form says to answer about the parent who provides the greater portion of the student’s financial support, even if the student does not live with them. If both parents gave exactly equal support over the past 12 months, or neither supports the student financially, answer about the parent with the greater income and assets. The parent who gave more support may or may not be the parent the student lives with. If that parent is remarried as of today, the answers cover that parent and the stepparent.

Never married, widowed, and living together

A parent who was never married and does not live with the student’s other legal parent, or a widowed parent who has not remarried, gives only their own information, and the Parent Spouse or Partner section is skipped. A widowed parent who has remarried as of today answers for that parent and the stepparent. Parents who are not married to each other but live together both give information. For marital status, the form says divorced but living together is “Unmarried and both legal parents living together”, and separated but living together is “Married”, not “Divorced” or “Separated”.

Consent: everyone who gives information has to approve it

The form’s federal tax information consent says the student and all contributors must consent to their tax information being transferred to the FAFSA form for eligibility to be calculated, and that accepting an invitation to take part in another person’s FAFSA form has its own consent terms. In practice that means each contributor the rules above name has to agree, so a student whose divorced parent will not cooperate needs a plan with the college rather than a workaround. The form separately covers parents who refuse to provide information (question 8); it must be “No” for Pell Grant eligibility and most other federal aid, and the college financial aid administrator decides what happens next.

Worked example

A dependent student’s parents divorced when the student was ten. The student lives with their mother, but their father paid the student’s tuition deposit, car insurance and phone bill over the past 12 months and gave the greater share of support. The form says to answer about the father, not the mother, because the parent who gave more support is the one who answers even if the student does not live with them. If the father has since married, his spouse also gives information in the Parent Spouse or Partner section, and the mother is not a contributor.

What this does not cover

• Whether the student is dependent in the first place. Use the dependency checker.
• College or state aid forms, which may ask about both parents regardless of the FAFSA rule.
• How the contributor invitation is sent on fafsa.gov. The paper form describes consent and invitations only in general terms.

Sources

• Federal Student Aid, 2027-28 FAFSA Form (PDF), pages 3-4 and notes on page 21, read November 1, 2026
• StudentAid.gov, filling out the FAFSA form (live page)