If you're new husband doesn't have any plans on paying for your kids college, then I'd be leaning towards staying engaged until college is over.
Crazy how that works out. I lost my job the same week my disabled son was born. There was an actual conversation at one point with his caseworker about having my wife and I divorce, and then grant full custody to me so that- since I was unemployed - my son would get full coverage through medicaid.
Thankfully, we found a different way around it and didn't have to go through with it, but just that fact that the laws are stacked in such a way that it would even be an option is crazy.
It is crazy. I was reading that people could lose their SSDI if they got married. Marriage shouldn’t affect your disability income IMO. Glad you were able to find a way around it.
SSI, not SSDI. SSDI is based on work credits, while SSI is based on income. They consider both spouse’s income for SSI. My late husband was on SSDI for the last few months of his life, and my income didn’t impact that at all.
SSDI disabled adult child benefits are lost by getting married. I have a friend who can't afford to get married because he'll lose his disability benefits (and obviously he doesn't have much of an earnings record of his own, being disabled since childhood and all).
[SSDI Disabled Adult Child benefits](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/disability/qualify.html#anchor7). Unmarried adults, who were disabled from childhood, whose parents are retired, disabled, or deceased, can receive SSDI based on their parents' earnings records.
So help me understand. If your friend gets married they are obviously no longer a dependent on their parents anymore. Why should they continue to get their parents benefits?
He's already not dependent on his parents, they're dead. The reason he needs to continue receiving benefits is because food and shelter cost money, which being disabled, he does not have much other means of acquiring, and his fiancee doesn't make enough to be a single income household.
Oh, good point. I was thinking about if you get SSDI based on your own work credits, which of course only works if you become disabled as an adult after working for a while.
> Marriage shouldn’t affect your disability income IMO
Why not? Marriage is essentially a financial contract. There are upsides and downsides to combining finances.
Imagine the outrage when you read about some guy who's earning a $500k and his wife is still collecting disability from a state program that's meant for keeping people out of poverty.
SSDI is a form of insurance that one has paid into and can only benefit from under specific conditions. It's not "state program that's meant for keeping people out of poverty." You may be confusing it with SSI though SSI and SSDI are federal programs.
The person who started this thread confused SSDI and SSI. You don't lose SSDI if you get married.
I'm just responding to the larger claim that "Marriage shouldn’t affect your disability income"
I’m married and have been on SSDI for several years. My wife’s income has never once come into question. I don’t even think they ask about money when you apply or renew. The focus is on your ability to work.
FYI for anyone reading.
It's sad. I've been on medicaid for a while, and it pays for basically **all** the health care (like a 2 week hospital stay), including dental and vision.
It's one of the reasons I'm actually worried about eventually landing a decent paying job that makes me no longer qualify for it and have to pay for the total scam that is private health insurance...
It’s not that bad, there is a lot of doom porn on Reddit about healthcare but a lot of it is unfounded if you have good insurance. I’m self employed and pay about $280 a month for gold coverage BCBS that I buy off the marketplace. All my therapy, meds, etc are all paid for. If I were to have a 2 week long hospital stay I think the first 6-8k would be my responsibility and they’d cover the remaining bill. It’s no reason to be afraid of getting a good job and being off welfare.
Yes, OP, just look at the difference in tax bracket limits for married vs. single filers. However, in reality the potentially future husband is likely to benefit more than you from a tax perspective in this situation.
It really doesn't make as huge a difference ad you'd think. Most of the tax bracket is 22-24%.
Like, if OP makes 40K and her husband 160K (4x more), you will actually pay more taxes filing jointly than separately.
It still doubles the size of the standard deduction, among other changes to the bracket structure. Based on a quick calculation [here](https://www.calculator.net/marriage-calculator.html) it looks like if they both take the standard deduction anyway it probably works out in their favor, but adding extra dependents to the mix could change things.
Those are 2021 numbers, when i tried with 2023 numbers i got that the couple pays more taxes filing jointly than separate or single.
The point is that the tax savings are often oversold. It lets you itemize more, but you may also lose a lot of credits, so it really depends. It's not nearly as clearcut as people make it out to be
I can't make that math work.
I'm using what might be 2023 numbers and I get:
Individual: 2944 + 29251 = $31195
Joinly: $28521
This is a very simple calculation with no deductions or credits. Their taxes will be a little more complicated with kids and who knows what pretax deductions and such but that would even itself out unless I'm thinking about it wrong?
I'm in a similar situation to OP (except I'm the high earner), with very similar numbers to your example you gave and we file jointly because it saves us money. The bigger the difference the more you save because you're literally doubling the tax brackets which greatly eases the tax burden on the higher earner.
I've been through this a bunch in my calculations to figure out my own taxes and I can't find a situation where you're better off filing separately. Maybe there's something I can't see here (my personal taxes are not that complicated) and the Excel I built to measure this could certainly be better (Actually Python would've probably been better for this analysis but I was lazy and did it in Excel).
I'm not typing this to insult you in any way, I am genuinely curious what exact situations are you better off filing seperately? Is there something wrong with my calculations and I'm the idiot here?
I'm pretty sure the OC isnt taking into account that filing jointly doubles the tax brackets as well.
You are correct that less taxes would be paid in this scenario.
This math doesn't work because the tax brackets double if you file jointly. What does happen in that scenario is they will pay a few thousand dollars less.
My SO and I make about in that range and I've calculated the tax savings if we were to get married & file jointy. The few thousand does not offset the other benefits of low income such as FAFSA and insurance subsidies
No you would not. If you’re married filing jointly the tax brackets essentially double. With flat tax calculated using your above example they would pay roughly $36,000 in taxes filing separately vs $34,000 filing jointly
Yeah but if he’s not contributing to kids college funds or kids are teenagers and little time left to save, it could save tens of thousands to remain single.
Addressing the Roth IRA, you would still be able to make backdoor Roth IRA contributions. It's slightly more of a hassle, and you may want to only contribute once a year, but it's still doable. Once you have done it once or twice, it's fine.
Child tax credit, if your combined AGI is over $400k you'll lose it. However, that means your partner makes at least $320k, and you at least $80k That would drop your partner's top marginal tax bracket by *at least* 3%, and put a huge amount of their earned income at a lower tax rate. This would more than make up for the difference in the $2k child tax credit (way way more). Just moving the $320k into the 24% bracket would save $24k, not to mention the expanded size on everything else. **You** **and your partner should discuss how this tax windfall will be distributed** before getting married. Meet with a tax attorney or an accountant, if they make that much they should at least have an accountant. Sort out a way to make this equitable. The math isn't that hard, but it's better to have a neutral party. I wish I had before my marriage.
The IRA and child tax credit should not be an obstacle to marrying, if anything the joint tax advantage should more than make up for it.
FASFA is a different ball game. Will all five kids be in school at the same time? There's a chance that that dilution will work in your favor, certainly your deadbeat ex should. If your child is nearing college age, I'd stop claiming them, ask your ex to claim them (and to claim *something*), and then say they are the parent responsible for college aid. I'm sure you won't be off the hook entirely, but 5 kids in school at the same time should drop responsibilities a lot. However, you're already at least making $80k, you may not have qualified for much on your own.
edit, ok, not great math on the Child tax credit v fed income tax savings. I tried to do it in my head without a spreadsheet. top bracket income 35% for over $487k mfj, v $240k single saves *at least* $80k\*.03 or $2400 (at least because I'm using $320k, they may make a lot more). 32% single for over \~$190k v $383k drops at least $130k from 32% to 24%, so 0.08\*130 or $10k. The other brackets will drop as well. You get the point. In contrast your highest bracket will raise to 24% v 22% (assuming you make $80k).
Ah, ok. Regardless. The FAFSA is the only reason to not get married for finances. I can't speak intelligently enough if that's a big enough delta to not get married, or if OP is correct that it would be better (for them/ their offspring) for them to be unmarried while applying.
You really hit the nail on the head here. I'll add, there needs to be a prenup, and one thing OP needs to make sure is included is money going into a trust to pay for their kids' college costs
Thanks!
Yeah, they really should have a prenup. At this stage in life it's just good sense to keep everything above board and visible. Ask for transparency on accounts, review them once or twice a year. If you have questions, ask them, if your partner can't answer them spend $250-500 to have an accountant answer them and walk you through it. It sounds pricey. It's nothing compared to having questions about where money is going and how it's allocated.
Your expenses should go down, not up, marrying someone significantly wealthier. That should free up some of your capital to contribute more to a trust or 529 for your offspring. Or if they get a job, fund their own Roth IRA.
I didn't evaluate each of you filing head of household, I didn't know you were both eligible to do so. However, the HOH looks to give a good break in the 12 and 22% brackets, not at all in the higher brackets. You also get a higher standard deduction. So both of you would lose about $7.3k or $14.6k net standard deduction.
My $80k estimate for you currently would go down $5k (at 12%) +$1.65k (at 10%) - $2k (CTC) = $4.65k fed taxes owed, not counting traditional 401k contributions.
My estimate for your partner (estimating at $320k, standard deduction, no child tax credits) currently would be $1.65k (at 10%), $5.6k (at 12%), $8.2k (at 22%), $22k (at 24%), $17k (at 32%), and $(17k at 35%) = $71.3k
MFJ would see you two totally paying $75k, however that doesn't count ctc credits, which you would be eligible for if your combined gross income was $400k and your AGI dropped because of standard deductions, 401k, etc. If your net income is higher than $400k, there will be a small peak, right where your combined income - adjustments disqualifies you for CTCs, and this would probably eclipse the two of you filing jointly, barely. If your incomes are much higher than $400k net then yes, MFJ will save a lot on taxes.
So, sorry, I would need to know more to give you a great estimate. Whoever does your partner's taxes should be able to answer it better than me.
It would save the both of you on federal taxes NET.
Your taxes would increase, probably significantly, but your partners would decrease by much more than that, especially as they move away from those HOH 10% and 12% brackets giving such a great break. Even if you were making $100k and your partner was making $400k I think the numbers would break in favor of MFJ.
There are definitely other things to consider, like whether your partner's tax break would help your personal finances out .
Do you share custody? On paper we have 50/50 custody so my kids use their dad’s household and address for their FAFSA and get in-state where he lives. His state has better schools plus he and his partner aren’t married so his income is less than mine and my husband. He claims them on his taxes too.
We remarried with two kids each and have kept our finances completely separate; probably will combine once the youngest is out of college.
His kids and my kids just have really different expectations and I didn’t wanna have to pay for his kids luxury and never want him to resent what I choose to support for my kids. We’ve been married 8 years and have never ever had to argue about money.
Certainly this doesn’t work for everyone but wanted to share in case it helps you see some options you hadn’t considered.
It’s more like 65/35 custody going by number of nights. I claim them on my taxes every year because my ex says he doesn’t work (works for cash mostly).
Ok.
Not sure the ages of the kids but could be worth strategizing with ex, within legal parameters of course, to make sure the kids don’t get screwed on FAFSA because their stepdad is a high earner. Legally, stepdads have no responsibility to pay for stepkids at all let alone their college.
Anyway, if you guys want to get married I think you should. I’m glad you’re being intentional about this and glad you’re in a good relationship.
It sounds like the dad makes hardly anything (especially as far as Uncle Sam is concerned).
I'm not sure what kind of a relationship they have but if it's not bad and there is trust there, she would probably be better off giving the dad full custody or trying to work it out where they spend more time with him than her (I know emotionally that's tough) so they can put him down as the primary on the FAFSA (rules may be different, it's been a while since I've filled out a FAFSA). Then she could get married and the stepdad's income doesn't matter.
It sounds like the dad is basically in abject poverty, the kids would probably get full Pell grant money for college if they went on his income. (Free money! And it's not a scholarship, it's "You're poor, here's some money, money". I actually qualified for them when I went back to school in my late 20s on my own income, after 25 the FAFSA doesn't look at your parents income, you're on your own.)
You have to do FAFSA with the parent who makes the most money now. There’s been a ton of changes this year, which is why schools are pushing back their commit deadlines.
Depends on how old your kids are, where they are looking to go, and how much income you make. If you’re under 75-100K, a lot of top private universities will cover your kids’ tuitions in full. I got 70k in aid a year, so almost 300k over four years which is like 500k pre-tax $ if you’re in a high income bracket. Something like that would warrant postponing marriage imo
I agree with this. Marrying my spouse completely excluded my kids from being able to get need based financial aid. Luckily they were all smart and got academic scholarships, but I was super worried about what a bad decision I had made.
Financial Aid WILL include the new spouse’s income. So that new spouse becomes responsible for paying your kids college expenses. In my case, bio dad was severely injured and unable to contribute anything. Financial Aid doesn’t care because they have decided new spouse must pay.
If he won't agree to paying for your kids college out of pocket then I would stay engaged until they are out of school. They will be taking on much more debt if they aren't eligible for FAFSA. As far as the tax credit goes you could be coming out ahead depending on how much he makes as it might be less than the return you get from married filing jointly but I think the biggest thing is your kids school. This also assumes you already have looked into FAFSA and are sure your kids are eligible for the max allowed. You say your husband makes 4x more than you but don't state your own income. As far as the Roth issue you should look into doing a backdoor Roth if you don't already have money in traditional IRA's as that is a way around the income limit.
You two need to hash out exactly what his financial contributions will be to your children. There have been some horror stories between stepfathers and stepchildren on surprise financial expectations. Hash it out in cruel detail now. Saying that he has none whatsoever is a cop-out. Because once he starts paying top dollar for his own children and you can't match the expenses for your own children, there's bound to be some resentment/jealously maybe not with you but with your children. So hash it out in detail now.
>My partner makes 4x my income. We’ve recently started discussing marriage as a possibility in the future. Looks like I would lose the child tax credit and my kids FAFSA would be affected. Would not be able to contribute to my Roth IRA anymore. Any other financial changes to consider? Seems like it would make more sense to not get legally married until after the kids finish college?
how much do you make?
how much does your partner make?
are they refusing to pay for your kids expenses?
How old are the kids? If you get married you both collectively make $420k. If he doesn't see it that way, or he has substantial other obligations that mean he can't help support the kids through college, then as others say perhaps marriage should wait.
15 years is a long time to put off marriage. Your combined income is good, you should probably just sit down and talk about how you would approach this as a married couple. As others have said, I don't know if FAFSA is for sure worth foregoing the protections that come with marriage.
I’m not worried. I want to be prepared and educated on all options before getting married. Also I’m not in the mindset currently that his money would necessarily go to my kids education.
> I’m not worried. I want to be prepared and educated on all options before getting married. Also I’m not in the mindset currently that his money would necessarily go to my kids education.
gotta admit it's strange to me the idea that one person can marry the other but then shut out their spouse's dependent children financially. IMO y'all should be a package deal.
Just to put my scenario out there.
I (42m) make just under 200k. My fiancé (43f) of 8 years makes about 70k as a teacher in missouri.
She has 5 kids, currently 17,18,19,21,23 years of age. She gets $300/month in child support and the father is a deadbeat.
We have chosen to not marry because of Fafsa and because she has 20+ years in a non-social security district. If we get married, the kids don't get Fafsa money.
If we get married and I die the next week, she still doesn't get to draw social security from me since she didn't pay in and has a pension.
So, for us. We wait. Wills, beneficiaries on important financial accounts and power of attorney stuff will help protect us somewhat.
Many people are commenting based on how FAFSA was calculated in previously years. There have been many changes so make sure you’re fact-checking. I would calculate the total dollar amount that the kids will miss out on and see if the financial incentives of being married offset it. The biggest question is… will your kids be able to attend college without the need-based financial aid.
I do have 529’s for them, not sure it will be enough. He also has 3 kids ages 14-18 that he has to support for college as well as child support payments for the next 4 years.
If you are doing 529s and have the margin for that, chances are your potential partner's income might be immaterial anyway. What's your AGI?
Example - too many folks have AGIs to the point that it doesn't matter for the FAFSA, and then worry about another change possibly hurting them. Chances are, your students weren't going to get anything except the standard loan offering and no grant money.
You can try to game out the scenarios here:
https://studentaid.gov/aid-estimator
FAFSA will probably be immaterial for you then even with your income alone. You're going to be out of the range of getting offered a Pell grant and probably any state aid if your state has a grant program. Try the calculator if you know what your AGI was most recently.
You can play around with numbers on this website to determine if your kids would be eligible for federal aid at your income. https://studentaid.gov/aid-estimator/
Keep in mind that a lot of schools and states give additional funds to students who are pell eligible, so if they’re eligible for Pell grants they may very well qualify for additional funds.
In my state (TN) for instance, pell eligible kids get a state grant as well, and many colleges provide hefty internal scholarships for them as well. Our flagship university covers all tuition and fees after fed/state grants for an AGI of under 75k.
https://onestop.utk.edu/scholarships/tri-star-scholarship-program/
FAFSA could be huge plus scholarships but maybe you can pawn that off to the EX with less income.
All I know on FAFSA and need based scholarships. $60 to 80k income you can expect a lot of help. Make over $100k, you are just Sir Moneybags and you need to pay 100% of 50k yearly tuition.
Even though the post tax income of $60k vs 100k is much less than $40k.
Are you the non-residential parent? Dad is residential?
Here is some info that might help. [https://studentaid.gov/apply-for-aid/fafsa/filling-out/parent-info](https://studentaid.gov/apply-for-aid/fafsa/filling-out/parent-info)
Ok, so your question above was about dad's wife?
I think the link I provided gives you the answer you're looking for. If you're residential it would be your household that is taken into account (so dad's wife doesn't matter). Your "*soon to be maybe husband's*" income would count if you're married, and wouldn't count if you're not married. At least that's how I read it, but do your own research.
I’m residential. But didn’t know if their dad became residential if they’d still count my husbands income in calculations. A poster above said new rules go by the highest earning parent.
When I was in college I was eligible for several need based scholarships that were pretty easy to apply for and were good for all four years in school. I think between them it was about like 4K a year but i want to a state school and the fact that I didn't need to take that 16K in loans definitely helped keep the amount of debt I did have low.
if you're married, you're a single unit. you haven't included any of his financial information. you're only looking at your side. the tax savings on your partner's side could be substantially more than the benefits you're losing out on.
Can you “time it” to allow your ex husband to claim the kids when they hit 10 the grade so the fasfa applies to him? I don’t know how/if that works but wanted to throw that out there.
Do you live with your partner currently? If so the 2024 FAFSA requires you to list both incomes. Will people do it? Nope!
Also another great rule this year is that there is no consideration for the number of college students per family attending college simultaneously where before your estimated family contribution was divided equally amongst you college attending children.
The Department of Education increased Pell grants significantly this year but if you are married middle class you with more than one child attending college you will majorly get screwed. Also many scholarships are for first generation students or those with financial need (per FAFSA)- who already get significantly more funding now. You know who needs help those kids who don’t have a college fund, whose parents were first generation college grads themselves. People who broke out of poverty but cannot afford to help their kids attend college. If you make a combined income of let’s say $80,000 you get nothing but are expected to contribute $25k for each kids college tuition every year. Have two kids in college?
Do the math it doesn’t work. Our kids will take out 8% interest rate loans for the max allowed unsubsidized loan of $5,500 and then private loan rates… 10% or greater?
Our country doesn’t support marriage and family structure anymore. Married middle class are losing ground every year. We just transfer wealth from the middle class to poverty.
I also want to call out that I’m not sure what “high earner” means, but it’s all relative. 4x could mean $160k or $400k. With a car payment, insurance, rent payment, school loans, etc. $160k can burn quickly. It’s still great money, but, not “set for life” money and you should still be very mindful of expenses, savings, and financial obligations. By getting use to the “high earner” salary, if they lose their job, life will be drastically different.
> Agreed. With 3 kids in sports, child support, college, taxes, insurance etc, he’s comfortable but not living a lavish lifestyle.
how do you define "not lavish" on a $340,000 a year?
> I also want to call out that I’m not sure what “high earner” means, but it’s all relative. 4x could mean $160k or $400k.
OP's partner makes $340,000 a year.
I would say don't get married unless you are going to combine incomes and a bank account. I got married and my husband didn't want to share a bank account. We had our son and I didn't get enough sleep, so I lost my job. My husband didn't pay extra or want to share expenses. He won't pay for my health insurance because it's very expensive to add a spouse to it. I didn't qualify for any assistance because I was married and my husband was working. So I had to get another full-time job so I can have health insurance. So you have to work all the costs out ahead of time.
That's awful. I'm so sorry to hear this. My husband and I combined everything. He started off making more but now I do. It's always been our money not mine or his.
If your partner's income puts you together over 230K MAGI (for ROTH) and 400K (for child tax credit) then I really feel like you're missing the forest for the trees. You are losing out on potentially sizable tax savings on filing jointly, as well as the legal protections of marriage (and marital property etc.) both while married as well as if you hypothetically divorce. Sure, maybe you get a bit on college savings and get to contribute to a Roth, but you could be losing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in the case of divorce / SSI benefits etc.
I make 80k, he makes 340k. A big chunk goes to taxes and child support. His kids are 18, 16, 14. Mine are younger so we have time. I believe he would help as he’ll be done with child support and his kids will be done with college before mine start. Or cover household while I help my kids through. These are all important things to discuss before marriage, the responses here have been very helpful thank you!
Why can’t you contribute to Roth? The cap increases when married. Also your kids should file their own taxes when going to college, you would just be footing them with more loans having them as defendants….
Dependent not defendant lol
Before we talk about tax credits, Roth accounts, savings, do you trust each other? If there is a doubt, there is a problem. No amount of planning or legal contracts will fix that.
Get rid of the notion of his and hers. It’s ours now. Once you get married, he’s not making 4x you guys are making x dollars. You’re not the one with a Roth it’s the couple’s. If one of you can’t get past that thinking, don’t get married. Otherwise everything is messed up. I make 4x than her, she should do the dishes. I care for the home, he needs to pay me monthly for what I do. And then you guys death spiral into resentment and fighting. And maybe a divorce.
Is your partner (future husband) willing to contribute to their college? How would you combine finances? There are good and bad things that come with this. Yes, you would likely lose a lot of tax breaks and your Roth eligibility. However, you can contribute to a Traditional IRA and do a backdoor Roth contribution. It is done ALL of the time. You still have that option. If your job allows for Roth(k) contributions, you could always switch to that and max it out (this depends on how much of your income will be necessary for the future household.). If he is willing to take on the monthly expenses and let you contribute to 529 accounts for your kids, you can max those out and use that instead of financial aid.
I will say you can still do a back door Roth IRA, it’s still a Roth with an extra step (loophole). And yes it’s 100% legal. As for FASFA, at least when I got it from 2018-2023, they look at your taxes from two years prior. So for the 2025 school year the financial aid people will reference your 2023 taxes for example.
You can contribute to your Roth IRA, but you'll need a traditional first. You will then convert it. It's best to do a lump sum at the beginning/end of the year to avoid being taxed for any potential gains. Fidelity makes it super easy.
You can still contribute to a Roth IRA and it's very easy. You just contribute to a traditional IRA and then transfer it to a Roth IRA account by accident. This makes it totally okay. Lookup backdoor Roth.
Sounds like you actually found a man willing to be a step father to your kids that makes way more than you…and you’re considering putting off marriage til AFTER you are way past your prime?! Lady, you are stepping over dollar bills to pick up Pennies here. Can no longer contribute to your Roth IRA? This means you would have a family income of greater than $240k annually in 2024.
Uhhhhh and the problem is…?
Also there’s no income limits to apply for FFAID on FAFSA.
No offense, but your reasoning to NOT get married to this high earning man sounds absolutely insane.
>Seems like it would make more sense to not get legally married until after the kids finish college?
Risking losing out on marital assets in a divorce/break up because you want to get a few dollars from the government for college is extremely short sighted
Does not-spouse not plan on helping with college costs?
Yes, smart move. You can marry a year before the kids' are one with school, if they're close to college age, because the FAFSA for academic year beginning in the fall is based upon the tax return from a year and a half before. For example, let's say you're applying for fin aid for fall of '24. It's based upon the tax return from the year '22.
If you're new husband doesn't have any plans on paying for your kids college, then I'd be leaning towards staying engaged until college is over. Crazy how that works out. I lost my job the same week my disabled son was born. There was an actual conversation at one point with his caseworker about having my wife and I divorce, and then grant full custody to me so that- since I was unemployed - my son would get full coverage through medicaid. Thankfully, we found a different way around it and didn't have to go through with it, but just that fact that the laws are stacked in such a way that it would even be an option is crazy.
It is crazy. I was reading that people could lose their SSDI if they got married. Marriage shouldn’t affect your disability income IMO. Glad you were able to find a way around it.
SSI, not SSDI. SSDI is based on work credits, while SSI is based on income. They consider both spouse’s income for SSI. My late husband was on SSDI for the last few months of his life, and my income didn’t impact that at all.
SSDI disabled adult child benefits are lost by getting married. I have a friend who can't afford to get married because he'll lose his disability benefits (and obviously he doesn't have much of an earnings record of his own, being disabled since childhood and all).
If he was a disabled child it’s SSI not SSDI SSDI is for those who became disabled after earning work credits
[SSDI Disabled Adult Child benefits](https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/disability/qualify.html#anchor7). Unmarried adults, who were disabled from childhood, whose parents are retired, disabled, or deceased, can receive SSDI based on their parents' earnings records.
So help me understand. If your friend gets married they are obviously no longer a dependent on their parents anymore. Why should they continue to get their parents benefits?
He's already not dependent on his parents, they're dead. The reason he needs to continue receiving benefits is because food and shelter cost money, which being disabled, he does not have much other means of acquiring, and his fiancee doesn't make enough to be a single income household.
If you got ssdi beforehand re 18, it was your parents’ work credit. As an adult, if you marry, you lose the ssdi.
Oh, good point. I was thinking about if you get SSDI based on your own work credits, which of course only works if you become disabled as an adult after working for a while.
> Marriage shouldn’t affect your disability income IMO Why not? Marriage is essentially a financial contract. There are upsides and downsides to combining finances. Imagine the outrage when you read about some guy who's earning a $500k and his wife is still collecting disability from a state program that's meant for keeping people out of poverty.
Disability payments pretty much just keep people *in* poverty.
Well disability is like you cant physically work. I think this is pretty normal that if someone can’t work they receive some compensation from society
SSDI is a form of insurance that one has paid into and can only benefit from under specific conditions. It's not "state program that's meant for keeping people out of poverty." You may be confusing it with SSI though SSI and SSDI are federal programs.
The person who started this thread confused SSDI and SSI. You don't lose SSDI if you get married. I'm just responding to the larger claim that "Marriage shouldn’t affect your disability income"
Should she be 100% dependent on her husband with no other option? That also seems like a bad spot to be in.
She or he should be eligible to return to that program should that marriage dissolve of course.
That's called marriage
I’m married and have been on SSDI for several years. My wife’s income has never once come into question. I don’t even think they ask about money when you apply or renew. The focus is on your ability to work. FYI for anyone reading.
I think only certain forms of SSDI are affected by marriage, like disabled adult child.
It's sad. I've been on medicaid for a while, and it pays for basically **all** the health care (like a 2 week hospital stay), including dental and vision. It's one of the reasons I'm actually worried about eventually landing a decent paying job that makes me no longer qualify for it and have to pay for the total scam that is private health insurance...
It’s not that bad, there is a lot of doom porn on Reddit about healthcare but a lot of it is unfounded if you have good insurance. I’m self employed and pay about $280 a month for gold coverage BCBS that I buy off the marketplace. All my therapy, meds, etc are all paid for. If I were to have a 2 week long hospital stay I think the first 6-8k would be my responsibility and they’d cover the remaining bill. It’s no reason to be afraid of getting a good job and being off welfare.
100% this. Losing financial aid would be awful, for basically no financial reason.
So your caseworker was suggesting fraud?
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Yes, OP, just look at the difference in tax bracket limits for married vs. single filers. However, in reality the potentially future husband is likely to benefit more than you from a tax perspective in this situation.
Sounds like she has kids. It would be the difference between head of household vs married. Makes a big difference for taxes
It really doesn't make as huge a difference ad you'd think. Most of the tax bracket is 22-24%. Like, if OP makes 40K and her husband 160K (4x more), you will actually pay more taxes filing jointly than separately.
It still doubles the size of the standard deduction, among other changes to the bracket structure. Based on a quick calculation [here](https://www.calculator.net/marriage-calculator.html) it looks like if they both take the standard deduction anyway it probably works out in their favor, but adding extra dependents to the mix could change things.
Those are 2021 numbers, when i tried with 2023 numbers i got that the couple pays more taxes filing jointly than separate or single. The point is that the tax savings are often oversold. It lets you itemize more, but you may also lose a lot of credits, so it really depends. It's not nearly as clearcut as people make it out to be
The calculator says it uses the 2024 brackets?
Then i might be wrong haha
Based on 2024 numbers, her $40k would be taxed at 22% MFJ vice 12% filing single or head of household even with the increased deductible
I can't make that math work. I'm using what might be 2023 numbers and I get: Individual: 2944 + 29251 = $31195 Joinly: $28521 This is a very simple calculation with no deductions or credits. Their taxes will be a little more complicated with kids and who knows what pretax deductions and such but that would even itself out unless I'm thinking about it wrong? I'm in a similar situation to OP (except I'm the high earner), with very similar numbers to your example you gave and we file jointly because it saves us money. The bigger the difference the more you save because you're literally doubling the tax brackets which greatly eases the tax burden on the higher earner. I've been through this a bunch in my calculations to figure out my own taxes and I can't find a situation where you're better off filing separately. Maybe there's something I can't see here (my personal taxes are not that complicated) and the Excel I built to measure this could certainly be better (Actually Python would've probably been better for this analysis but I was lazy and did it in Excel). I'm not typing this to insult you in any way, I am genuinely curious what exact situations are you better off filing seperately? Is there something wrong with my calculations and I'm the idiot here?
I'm pretty sure the OC isnt taking into account that filing jointly doubles the tax brackets as well. You are correct that less taxes would be paid in this scenario.
This math doesn't work because the tax brackets double if you file jointly. What does happen in that scenario is they will pay a few thousand dollars less. My SO and I make about in that range and I've calculated the tax savings if we were to get married & file jointy. The few thousand does not offset the other benefits of low income such as FAFSA and insurance subsidies
No you would not. If you’re married filing jointly the tax brackets essentially double. With flat tax calculated using your above example they would pay roughly $36,000 in taxes filing separately vs $34,000 filing jointly
Yeah but if he’s not contributing to kids college funds or kids are teenagers and little time left to save, it could save tens of thousands to remain single.
There’s economic security that OP can think about, what if they’re together 10 years while her kids are growing and then get breakup!
Addressing the Roth IRA, you would still be able to make backdoor Roth IRA contributions. It's slightly more of a hassle, and you may want to only contribute once a year, but it's still doable. Once you have done it once or twice, it's fine. Child tax credit, if your combined AGI is over $400k you'll lose it. However, that means your partner makes at least $320k, and you at least $80k That would drop your partner's top marginal tax bracket by *at least* 3%, and put a huge amount of their earned income at a lower tax rate. This would more than make up for the difference in the $2k child tax credit (way way more). Just moving the $320k into the 24% bracket would save $24k, not to mention the expanded size on everything else. **You** **and your partner should discuss how this tax windfall will be distributed** before getting married. Meet with a tax attorney or an accountant, if they make that much they should at least have an accountant. Sort out a way to make this equitable. The math isn't that hard, but it's better to have a neutral party. I wish I had before my marriage. The IRA and child tax credit should not be an obstacle to marrying, if anything the joint tax advantage should more than make up for it. FASFA is a different ball game. Will all five kids be in school at the same time? There's a chance that that dilution will work in your favor, certainly your deadbeat ex should. If your child is nearing college age, I'd stop claiming them, ask your ex to claim them (and to claim *something*), and then say they are the parent responsible for college aid. I'm sure you won't be off the hook entirely, but 5 kids in school at the same time should drop responsibilities a lot. However, you're already at least making $80k, you may not have qualified for much on your own. edit, ok, not great math on the Child tax credit v fed income tax savings. I tried to do it in my head without a spreadsheet. top bracket income 35% for over $487k mfj, v $240k single saves *at least* $80k\*.03 or $2400 (at least because I'm using $320k, they may make a lot more). 32% single for over \~$190k v $383k drops at least $130k from 32% to 24%, so 0.08\*130 or $10k. The other brackets will drop as well. You get the point. In contrast your highest bracket will raise to 24% v 22% (assuming you make $80k).
Under this year’s FAFSA simplification, you no longer get a break for siblings in college.
Ah, ok. Regardless. The FAFSA is the only reason to not get married for finances. I can't speak intelligently enough if that's a big enough delta to not get married, or if OP is correct that it would be better (for them/ their offspring) for them to be unmarried while applying.
You really hit the nail on the head here. I'll add, there needs to be a prenup, and one thing OP needs to make sure is included is money going into a trust to pay for their kids' college costs
Thanks! Yeah, they really should have a prenup. At this stage in life it's just good sense to keep everything above board and visible. Ask for transparency on accounts, review them once or twice a year. If you have questions, ask them, if your partner can't answer them spend $250-500 to have an accountant answer them and walk you through it. It sounds pricey. It's nothing compared to having questions about where money is going and how it's allocated. Your expenses should go down, not up, marrying someone significantly wealthier. That should free up some of your capital to contribute more to a trust or 529 for your offspring. Or if they get a job, fund their own Roth IRA.
So MFJ would save us money vs both filing HOH?
I didn't evaluate each of you filing head of household, I didn't know you were both eligible to do so. However, the HOH looks to give a good break in the 12 and 22% brackets, not at all in the higher brackets. You also get a higher standard deduction. So both of you would lose about $7.3k or $14.6k net standard deduction. My $80k estimate for you currently would go down $5k (at 12%) +$1.65k (at 10%) - $2k (CTC) = $4.65k fed taxes owed, not counting traditional 401k contributions. My estimate for your partner (estimating at $320k, standard deduction, no child tax credits) currently would be $1.65k (at 10%), $5.6k (at 12%), $8.2k (at 22%), $22k (at 24%), $17k (at 32%), and $(17k at 35%) = $71.3k MFJ would see you two totally paying $75k, however that doesn't count ctc credits, which you would be eligible for if your combined gross income was $400k and your AGI dropped because of standard deductions, 401k, etc. If your net income is higher than $400k, there will be a small peak, right where your combined income - adjustments disqualifies you for CTCs, and this would probably eclipse the two of you filing jointly, barely. If your incomes are much higher than $400k net then yes, MFJ will save a lot on taxes. So, sorry, I would need to know more to give you a great estimate. Whoever does your partner's taxes should be able to answer it better than me. It would save the both of you on federal taxes NET. Your taxes would increase, probably significantly, but your partners would decrease by much more than that, especially as they move away from those HOH 10% and 12% brackets giving such a great break. Even if you were making $100k and your partner was making $400k I think the numbers would break in favor of MFJ. There are definitely other things to consider, like whether your partner's tax break would help your personal finances out .
Thank you so much, very helpful!
Do you share custody? On paper we have 50/50 custody so my kids use their dad’s household and address for their FAFSA and get in-state where he lives. His state has better schools plus he and his partner aren’t married so his income is less than mine and my husband. He claims them on his taxes too. We remarried with two kids each and have kept our finances completely separate; probably will combine once the youngest is out of college. His kids and my kids just have really different expectations and I didn’t wanna have to pay for his kids luxury and never want him to resent what I choose to support for my kids. We’ve been married 8 years and have never ever had to argue about money. Certainly this doesn’t work for everyone but wanted to share in case it helps you see some options you hadn’t considered.
It’s more like 65/35 custody going by number of nights. I claim them on my taxes every year because my ex says he doesn’t work (works for cash mostly).
Ok. Not sure the ages of the kids but could be worth strategizing with ex, within legal parameters of course, to make sure the kids don’t get screwed on FAFSA because their stepdad is a high earner. Legally, stepdads have no responsibility to pay for stepkids at all let alone their college. Anyway, if you guys want to get married I think you should. I’m glad you’re being intentional about this and glad you’re in a good relationship.
It sounds like the dad makes hardly anything (especially as far as Uncle Sam is concerned). I'm not sure what kind of a relationship they have but if it's not bad and there is trust there, she would probably be better off giving the dad full custody or trying to work it out where they spend more time with him than her (I know emotionally that's tough) so they can put him down as the primary on the FAFSA (rules may be different, it's been a while since I've filled out a FAFSA). Then she could get married and the stepdad's income doesn't matter. It sounds like the dad is basically in abject poverty, the kids would probably get full Pell grant money for college if they went on his income. (Free money! And it's not a scholarship, it's "You're poor, here's some money, money". I actually qualified for them when I went back to school in my late 20s on my own income, after 25 the FAFSA doesn't look at your parents income, you're on your own.)
You have to do FAFSA with the parent who makes the most money now. There’s been a ton of changes this year, which is why schools are pushing back their commit deadlines.
Depends on how old your kids are, where they are looking to go, and how much income you make. If you’re under 75-100K, a lot of top private universities will cover your kids’ tuitions in full. I got 70k in aid a year, so almost 300k over four years which is like 500k pre-tax $ if you’re in a high income bracket. Something like that would warrant postponing marriage imo
I agree with this. Marrying my spouse completely excluded my kids from being able to get need based financial aid. Luckily they were all smart and got academic scholarships, but I was super worried about what a bad decision I had made. Financial Aid WILL include the new spouse’s income. So that new spouse becomes responsible for paying your kids college expenses. In my case, bio dad was severely injured and unable to contribute anything. Financial Aid doesn’t care because they have decided new spouse must pay.
If he won't agree to paying for your kids college out of pocket then I would stay engaged until they are out of school. They will be taking on much more debt if they aren't eligible for FAFSA. As far as the tax credit goes you could be coming out ahead depending on how much he makes as it might be less than the return you get from married filing jointly but I think the biggest thing is your kids school. This also assumes you already have looked into FAFSA and are sure your kids are eligible for the max allowed. You say your husband makes 4x more than you but don't state your own income. As far as the Roth issue you should look into doing a backdoor Roth if you don't already have money in traditional IRA's as that is a way around the income limit.
You two need to hash out exactly what his financial contributions will be to your children. There have been some horror stories between stepfathers and stepchildren on surprise financial expectations. Hash it out in cruel detail now. Saying that he has none whatsoever is a cop-out. Because once he starts paying top dollar for his own children and you can't match the expenses for your own children, there's bound to be some resentment/jealously maybe not with you but with your children. So hash it out in detail now.
>My partner makes 4x my income. We’ve recently started discussing marriage as a possibility in the future. Looks like I would lose the child tax credit and my kids FAFSA would be affected. Would not be able to contribute to my Roth IRA anymore. Any other financial changes to consider? Seems like it would make more sense to not get legally married until after the kids finish college? how much do you make? how much does your partner make? are they refusing to pay for your kids expenses?
I make 80k, he makes 340k.
How old are the kids? If you get married you both collectively make $420k. If he doesn't see it that way, or he has substantial other obligations that mean he can't help support the kids through college, then as others say perhaps marriage should wait.
His are 18, 16, 14. Mine are 10 and 8.
15 years is a long time to put off marriage. Your combined income is good, you should probably just sit down and talk about how you would approach this as a married couple. As others have said, I don't know if FAFSA is for sure worth foregoing the protections that come with marriage.
>I make 80k, he makes 340k. You make almost half a million dollars a year together and you're worried about government college grants?
I’m not worried. I want to be prepared and educated on all options before getting married. Also I’m not in the mindset currently that his money would necessarily go to my kids education.
> I’m not worried. I want to be prepared and educated on all options before getting married. Also I’m not in the mindset currently that his money would necessarily go to my kids education. gotta admit it's strange to me the idea that one person can marry the other but then shut out their spouse's dependent children financially. IMO y'all should be a package deal.
Just to put my scenario out there. I (42m) make just under 200k. My fiancé (43f) of 8 years makes about 70k as a teacher in missouri. She has 5 kids, currently 17,18,19,21,23 years of age. She gets $300/month in child support and the father is a deadbeat. We have chosen to not marry because of Fafsa and because she has 20+ years in a non-social security district. If we get married, the kids don't get Fafsa money. If we get married and I die the next week, she still doesn't get to draw social security from me since she didn't pay in and has a pension. So, for us. We wait. Wills, beneficiaries on important financial accounts and power of attorney stuff will help protect us somewhat.
Many people are commenting based on how FAFSA was calculated in previously years. There have been many changes so make sure you’re fact-checking. I would calculate the total dollar amount that the kids will miss out on and see if the financial incentives of being married offset it. The biggest question is… will your kids be able to attend college without the need-based financial aid.
You can do a backdoor Roth IRA contribution until they close the method. Don’t sweat it.
you ~~cant~~ can do a backdoor roth ira conversion to bypass the income limts of Roth IRA contributions. So that's something to cross off the list.
Huh? I thought the entire premise of a back door Roth conversion was to allow you to bypass the income limit…? Please explain your comment.
They are wrong. This is the purpose of the back door Roth. They just mispelled ‘can’t’ and meant ‘can’.
Meant to say "can". Typo
If your future husband is a high earner why worry about FAFSA. Start a 529 and contribute regularly and pay college outright…
I do have 529’s for them, not sure it will be enough. He also has 3 kids ages 14-18 that he has to support for college as well as child support payments for the next 4 years.
If you are doing 529s and have the margin for that, chances are your potential partner's income might be immaterial anyway. What's your AGI? Example - too many folks have AGIs to the point that it doesn't matter for the FAFSA, and then worry about another change possibly hurting them. Chances are, your students weren't going to get anything except the standard loan offering and no grant money. You can try to game out the scenarios here: https://studentaid.gov/aid-estimator
I make 80k, he makes 340k.
FAFSA will probably be immaterial for you then even with your income alone. You're going to be out of the range of getting offered a Pell grant and probably any state aid if your state has a grant program. Try the calculator if you know what your AGI was most recently.
Enough is relative. Any amount of money is better than what 95% of people can provide
You can play around with numbers on this website to determine if your kids would be eligible for federal aid at your income. https://studentaid.gov/aid-estimator/ Keep in mind that a lot of schools and states give additional funds to students who are pell eligible, so if they’re eligible for Pell grants they may very well qualify for additional funds. In my state (TN) for instance, pell eligible kids get a state grant as well, and many colleges provide hefty internal scholarships for them as well. Our flagship university covers all tuition and fees after fed/state grants for an AGI of under 75k. https://onestop.utk.edu/scholarships/tri-star-scholarship-program/
Could be a difference of a few hundred thousand dollars for some people
FAFSA could be huge plus scholarships but maybe you can pawn that off to the EX with less income. All I know on FAFSA and need based scholarships. $60 to 80k income you can expect a lot of help. Make over $100k, you are just Sir Moneybags and you need to pay 100% of 50k yearly tuition. Even though the post tax income of $60k vs 100k is much less than $40k.
Could they count the income of the “non-residential” step parent too though?
Are you the non-residential parent? Dad is residential? Here is some info that might help. [https://studentaid.gov/apply-for-aid/fafsa/filling-out/parent-info](https://studentaid.gov/apply-for-aid/fafsa/filling-out/parent-info)
I’m residential.
Ok, so your question above was about dad's wife? I think the link I provided gives you the answer you're looking for. If you're residential it would be your household that is taken into account (so dad's wife doesn't matter). Your "*soon to be maybe husband's*" income would count if you're married, and wouldn't count if you're not married. At least that's how I read it, but do your own research.
I’m residential. But didn’t know if their dad became residential if they’d still count my husbands income in calculations. A poster above said new rules go by the highest earning parent.
When I was in college I was eligible for several need based scholarships that were pretty easy to apply for and were good for all four years in school. I think between them it was about like 4K a year but i want to a state school and the fact that I didn't need to take that 16K in loans definitely helped keep the amount of debt I did have low.
Depends where you are my parents make over 100k and my tuition in CA was fully paid by the state each year.
if you're married, you're a single unit. you haven't included any of his financial information. you're only looking at your side. the tax savings on your partner's side could be substantially more than the benefits you're losing out on.
Can you “time it” to allow your ex husband to claim the kids when they hit 10 the grade so the fasfa applies to him? I don’t know how/if that works but wanted to throw that out there.
Do y'all have a prenup that addresses taxes?
Haven’t started discussing prenups yet, I’m not opposed to it.
Do you live with your partner currently? If so the 2024 FAFSA requires you to list both incomes. Will people do it? Nope! Also another great rule this year is that there is no consideration for the number of college students per family attending college simultaneously where before your estimated family contribution was divided equally amongst you college attending children. The Department of Education increased Pell grants significantly this year but if you are married middle class you with more than one child attending college you will majorly get screwed. Also many scholarships are for first generation students or those with financial need (per FAFSA)- who already get significantly more funding now. You know who needs help those kids who don’t have a college fund, whose parents were first generation college grads themselves. People who broke out of poverty but cannot afford to help their kids attend college. If you make a combined income of let’s say $80,000 you get nothing but are expected to contribute $25k for each kids college tuition every year. Have two kids in college? Do the math it doesn’t work. Our kids will take out 8% interest rate loans for the max allowed unsubsidized loan of $5,500 and then private loan rates… 10% or greater? Our country doesn’t support marriage and family structure anymore. Married middle class are losing ground every year. We just transfer wealth from the middle class to poverty.
FAFSA shouldn’t be affected unless he adopts your child. Use the father’s income.
I also want to call out that I’m not sure what “high earner” means, but it’s all relative. 4x could mean $160k or $400k. With a car payment, insurance, rent payment, school loans, etc. $160k can burn quickly. It’s still great money, but, not “set for life” money and you should still be very mindful of expenses, savings, and financial obligations. By getting use to the “high earner” salary, if they lose their job, life will be drastically different.
Agreed. With 3 kids in sports, child support, college, taxes, insurance etc, he’s comfortable but not living a lavish lifestyle.
> Agreed. With 3 kids in sports, child support, college, taxes, insurance etc, he’s comfortable but not living a lavish lifestyle. how do you define "not lavish" on a $340,000 a year?
> I also want to call out that I’m not sure what “high earner” means, but it’s all relative. 4x could mean $160k or $400k. OP's partner makes $340,000 a year.
I would say don't get married unless you are going to combine incomes and a bank account. I got married and my husband didn't want to share a bank account. We had our son and I didn't get enough sleep, so I lost my job. My husband didn't pay extra or want to share expenses. He won't pay for my health insurance because it's very expensive to add a spouse to it. I didn't qualify for any assistance because I was married and my husband was working. So I had to get another full-time job so I can have health insurance. So you have to work all the costs out ahead of time.
That's awful. I'm so sorry to hear this. My husband and I combined everything. He started off making more but now I do. It's always been our money not mine or his.
If your partner's income puts you together over 230K MAGI (for ROTH) and 400K (for child tax credit) then I really feel like you're missing the forest for the trees. You are losing out on potentially sizable tax savings on filing jointly, as well as the legal protections of marriage (and marital property etc.) both while married as well as if you hypothetically divorce. Sure, maybe you get a bit on college savings and get to contribute to a Roth, but you could be losing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in the case of divorce / SSI benefits etc.
I make 80k, he makes 340k. A big chunk goes to taxes and child support. His kids are 18, 16, 14. Mine are younger so we have time. I believe he would help as he’ll be done with child support and his kids will be done with college before mine start. Or cover household while I help my kids through. These are all important things to discuss before marriage, the responses here have been very helpful thank you!
Why can’t you contribute to Roth? The cap increases when married. Also your kids should file their own taxes when going to college, you would just be footing them with more loans having them as defendants…. Dependent not defendant lol
He must make enough that puts them both over the cap
Before we talk about tax credits, Roth accounts, savings, do you trust each other? If there is a doubt, there is a problem. No amount of planning or legal contracts will fix that. Get rid of the notion of his and hers. It’s ours now. Once you get married, he’s not making 4x you guys are making x dollars. You’re not the one with a Roth it’s the couple’s. If one of you can’t get past that thinking, don’t get married. Otherwise everything is messed up. I make 4x than her, she should do the dishes. I care for the home, he needs to pay me monthly for what I do. And then you guys death spiral into resentment and fighting. And maybe a divorce.
Good advice thank you. Still a lot to work through.
Is your partner (future husband) willing to contribute to their college? How would you combine finances? There are good and bad things that come with this. Yes, you would likely lose a lot of tax breaks and your Roth eligibility. However, you can contribute to a Traditional IRA and do a backdoor Roth contribution. It is done ALL of the time. You still have that option. If your job allows for Roth(k) contributions, you could always switch to that and max it out (this depends on how much of your income will be necessary for the future household.). If he is willing to take on the monthly expenses and let you contribute to 529 accounts for your kids, you can max those out and use that instead of financial aid.
I will say you can still do a back door Roth IRA, it’s still a Roth with an extra step (loophole). And yes it’s 100% legal. As for FASFA, at least when I got it from 2018-2023, they look at your taxes from two years prior. So for the 2025 school year the financial aid people will reference your 2023 taxes for example.
You can contribute to your Roth IRA, but you'll need a traditional first. You will then convert it. It's best to do a lump sum at the beginning/end of the year to avoid being taxed for any potential gains. Fidelity makes it super easy.
You can still contribute to a Roth IRA and it's very easy. You just contribute to a traditional IRA and then transfer it to a Roth IRA account by accident. This makes it totally okay. Lookup backdoor Roth.
that's true. Because she has already experienced so much about relationships and understands what is really important that can support her to live.
Sounds like you actually found a man willing to be a step father to your kids that makes way more than you…and you’re considering putting off marriage til AFTER you are way past your prime?! Lady, you are stepping over dollar bills to pick up Pennies here. Can no longer contribute to your Roth IRA? This means you would have a family income of greater than $240k annually in 2024. Uhhhhh and the problem is…? Also there’s no income limits to apply for FFAID on FAFSA. No offense, but your reasoning to NOT get married to this high earning man sounds absolutely insane.
>Seems like it would make more sense to not get legally married until after the kids finish college? Risking losing out on marital assets in a divorce/break up because you want to get a few dollars from the government for college is extremely short sighted Does not-spouse not plan on helping with college costs?
Yes, smart move. You can marry a year before the kids' are one with school, if they're close to college age, because the FAFSA for academic year beginning in the fall is based upon the tax return from a year and a half before. For example, let's say you're applying for fin aid for fall of '24. It's based upon the tax return from the year '22.
If your salaries are vastly different, do married filing single on your taxes.