Navy Nurse Candidate Program, Getting Married to a sailor+BAH, FAFSA

Moved to the Government and military forum

Hello,

I'm not sure if I have all of the information to answer your questions, but I did take a crack at them.

1. Will getting married affect my navy nurse candidate application? - It will not affect your acceptance, but it has the potential to limit where you get stationed (if you want to live and work near each other).

2. If wait to figure out if I get in or not, and I get in.. then get married, what would I need to do legality/paperwork-wise for the program? - My guess is that it will be pretty simple since service members get married after joining all the time. They may need to see proof, such as a marriage certificate, any name change documents, etc.

3. My mom puts me as a dependent on her taxes. How will that change if I get married? - When you're married, you will probably file as jointly with your spouse or fall as a dependent to the spouse, rather than your mother.

4. If I get married to my sailor does he need to consider me as an dependent for tax purposes? If he doesn't put me down as a dependent, can my mom still put me down as a dependent on her instead? - A dependent is someone who the taxpayer supports, but they cannot file taxes for themselves or file jointly with a spouse. If you chose to claim that your mother supports you and your "husband" files separately from you, then you could still be considered a dependent. It appears that it's only a benefit to her, though, and not necessarily to you.

5. If we get married but I don't change my name, do I have to worry about any legal stuff such as a drivers license, social security, bank accounts, insurance, my status at school? - If you keep your name, you won't have to worry about the name change documents, but you would still need proof in a marriage certificate.

6. If we get married, I will be considered an independent for FAFSA purposes. I know I will need to put my spouses’ income, etc. Do I have to worry about putting any information about my mom since she will be considering me a dependent on her taxes? Or am I allowed to not put any info about her since I’m considered “independent” already? - This would depend on the tax year the FAFSA needs. If you were a dependent for your mother, then you would need to include her information. If you were married before December 31 of that year and filed jointly, you would need to put your spouse's information.

7. How will the BAH work if I choose to live at home with my parents while going to school and he is stationed somewhere else? - I believe the BAH works as to the zip code where your spouse is stationed. If you are living in a different area with your family, your spouse would continue to receive BAH for that zip code.

8. If I get in, and get commissioned to be an officer, how will the whole BAH thing work/change? - If you get in, the BAH shifts to your paycheck and not his. It will be higher since you are an officer and it will be based on your duty station's zip code, regardless of where your spouse is.

9. If I don’t get in, but find a job as a new grad here close to home far away from him, are we allowed to continue living separately? How will the BAH work then since we’re choosing to live separately? - If you don't get in, you can live wherever you want. The Navy doesn't care where the spouse is located. Your spouse will continue to receive BAH as if you were at the duty station with him.

Most of the above is regarding BAH. If you and your SO are contemplating marriage solely for the BAH, I would advise against that. I have witnessed several co-workers go down that road on active duty, and very few marriages actually lasted more than a year. If you were already looking to get married before, that's a different story. Good luck to you!