[hfuyf65]

Some of what I am about to say is state specific ( in my case IL ), so take this into consideration. Income is a consideration for any help. Married couple will have higher documented income, while unmarried cohabiting couple won't. In other words, single parent ( on paper ) will claim a child and with lower income have a better chance of being in the low enough income bracket.

I have zero idea how common that situation is though, but I know someone who structures their life around snap benefits ( or whatever they are called now ) and its kinda ridiculous, because her monthly benedit is on par with our family's grocery budget. I struggled not to report it as fraud ( the person in question is not poor; they are using - abusing?- the system ).

[em-bee]

Married couple will have higher documented income, while unmarried cohabiting couple won't

that seems to be the problem then. i think generally, hiding the income of a divorced partner is difficult so making your first scenario less likely in many places.

and the other case would also require one partner to maintain credible evidence that they actually live apart and do not support each other. where i come from this is not easy to do.

if you live in an area where this is possible then that's a disappointing state of local legislation.

either way i doubt there is a large number of people doing this. at least i hope not. and it may as well be considered fraud.

i wouldn't bother reporting it though, because it is not going to improve your own life.