If You And Your Husband Legally Separated You Each Can File Single

If you are legally separated on December 31 (that is, there is a court ordered separation in effect) then you and your husband are not considered married for tax purposes and you each can file single, even though your divorce is not final. You may need to ask your divorce attorney or a tax attorney if you are not sure if you are legally separated.

Also, if you have a child, the child lived in your home for more than half the year, you provided more than half the cost of maintaining the home, and your husband did not live in the home for ANY part of the last six months of the year, then you are considered unmarried for the purpose of filing separately and claiming head of household filing status. See IRS Publication 501 for the details. You can get this publication at most IRS offices, have it mailed to you by calling the IRS from the IRS.

If neither of those apply, then you either must file married filing separately or married filing jointly if you are married on 12/31. Filing separately may result in a higher tax for the two of you together than if you filed jointly. But, depending on the details, it is possible that you might come out better filing separately. Look at the returns both ways and see.

As for the financial aid question, well I cannot answer that. A lot depends on what kind of aid he intends to get. The best way to find out is to ask the financial aid office of the school, college, or university he plans to attend. You might also find some helpful information at the following web sites: