Hello, I'm a rookie and quite lost trying to understand the 529 account. My son will be a senior next year, I was just awarded SSD for myself and also for him being I'm the disabled parent. I'm going through an ugly divorce but my husband does NOT want to pay a dime for his education, or anything in the present moment so I will be dealing with this conundrum on my own. We live in Washington state and I just found out the 529 GET program was shut down until 2017. My only source of income will be our SSD benefits and probably less than one year of child support I will have to figure something out as far as supplementing income. What scares me is not being able to work and help him with expenses for college. I have to report what his SSD benefits are spent on every year, my plan is to throw his benefits into the 529 since we didn't start early. Can someone clarify how the taxes would come about if I open a 529? Washington state doesn't tax on SSD, my hope is to not get dinged for saving on his education. I would also stay as the account holder without giving him access. Any thoughts? Ideas? Bad criticism? I'll take.
I should mention, his father is a Federal Employee currently getting his Master's degree paid by work. SMH...