College Financial Planning and Re-Marriage

[Jay Hanna]

My question involves marriage law for the State of: Kansas

I am divorced and 52 years old. My girlfriend (49) is also divorced. We have been dating for 3 years and want to get married. She has a son that is going into college this fall, and because of her financial situation, has received quite a bit of financial help in the form of grants for people who don't have the money to pay for college.(she is having to file bankruptcy because of her ex-husband, I make decent money however) We were told by her college financial consultant that if we marry, that would TOTALLY change the equation and make her son ineligible for the grants. We don't want to keep the marriage a secret, or defraud the IRS, but I was wondering if there was any advice you could give as to how to get married soon and not have it change her financial situation in regards to college grants. I was thinking that if we kept our finances totally separate and filed "married but filing individually" on our taxes AND still live in separate homes (household income would not change for her that way) till her son is out of college we could avoid the financial ramifications. We were planning on living in separate homes anyway, for a couple of years, as I have a daughter that stays with me half of the time, and has 2 more years of high school. Do you have any suggestions?

[Mr. Knowitall]

What type of grants are we talking about?

In terms of a college's own grants and scholarships, you will have to work with their definitions of parent, household, household income and the like. In terms of state and federal grants, you'll have to look into any rules associated with those grants.