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Seperated But living together
autumn-red
Posts: 6 Forumite
Hi, I hope someone can help me. My husband and I have seperated, I have 2 children and we are all living in our privatly rented house. Neither my husband or I can afford to move out so have got seperate rooms/lives but under the same roof....we are going to split all bills down the middle but I can't afford this...Will I be able to claim housing benefit and any other benefits?....I currently work 16 hours a fortnight.
Thanks for any help!
Thanks for any help!
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Comments
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Hi autumn-red
By the sounds of it if your weekly income is less than £57.45 you would be able to get Income Support.
You should also have your own seperate claim in for Child Tax Credit and not a joint one with your ex-husband.
Yes you can definitely claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit but only for 50% of the rent and Ctax as you will be classed as joint tenants. I assume you have a joint tenancy.
Any more questions fire away0 -
It will be important for means tested benefits to be able to show that all bills such as food etc for you & your children are seperate from those of your husband to show that you are in fact 2 seperate households & no longer living as a couple.The bigger the bargain, the better I feel.
I should mention that there's only one of me, don't confuse me with others of the same name.0 -
autumn-red wrote: »Hi, I hope someone can help me. My husband and I have seperated, I have 2 children and we are all living in our privatly rented house. Neither my husband or I can afford to move out so have got seperate rooms/lives but under the same roof....we are going to split all bills down the middle but I can't afford this...Will I be able to claim housing benefit and any other benefits?....I currently work 16 hours a fortnight.
Thanks for any help!
I forsee problems for you going down this route. If a woman is able to get more benefits by simply saying that she has separated from her man, but that he is still living with her, why doesn't everyone claim this. My girlfriend is as far as I am aware, perfectly happy with me. But there would be nothing to stop her pretending that we have separated.0 -
sherbetpops wrote: »How come your husband no longer woshes to provide for you and his children? So he want s to live in the same house because he cant afford to move out but wants the state to support you, i know i shouldnt say this but i think he needs to grow up and realise he either stands on his own two feet and moves out or he carries on providing for you and his children, why should the state provide for you whilst he lives for half the cost
First of all you don't know the reasons behind their split, if they can live in the same house in the interim then it sounds reasonably amicable which is great for their children.
Secondly the OP stated neither of them can afford to move out at the moment. Besides that going on your argument why doesn't the OP grow up and stand on her own feet and move out or stay and provide for her husband and kids. Why do you automatically assume the husband should.
Thirdly at what point in the original post did the OP say her husband wanted the state to provide for her. The OP only posted so that she can find out what her options are. The husband has only to ensure he fulfills his responsibilities with regard to their children.This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0 -
I guess the socially positive side of estranged partners still living under one roof is that whilst they claim the same benefits that they would receive if they lived separately, there is at least less of a social burden in terms of supplying accommodation.
I appreciate there is a major concern for many (including myself) that this arrangement can and I've no doubt is, abused by a lot of benefit claimers, this is a matter for more effective monitoring and fraud investigation; there are many people who are genuinely trying to make the most of a bad situation and have no alternative than to remain under the same roof.
I suspect that we will see an increase in this type of arrangement given the housing/rental market coupled with an ever decreasing number of available council houses. When I worked for a council housing dep't. one of the first things we used to establish (for people claiming homelessness) was whether they had anywhere they could live; this included relatives, friends etc. Where the answer was that they had tried but been refused, often we were expected to actually ring relatives to persuade them into taking the enquirer back ... some very uncomfortable and angry responses from that as you can imagine especially when there had been a family bust up.Integrity is a dying art!:p0 -
you could still be considered being in a relationship as you live in the same house, but you would have to prove to the DSS that you are living seperate lives, does your ex still provide for you and your children ? you can claim IS as a single parent but that will trigger the CSAautumn-red wrote: »Hi, I hope someone can help me. My husband and I have seperated, I have 2 children and we are all living in our privatly rented house. Neither my husband or I can afford to move out so have got seperate rooms/lives but under the same roof....we are going to split all bills down the middle but I can't afford this...Will I be able to claim housing benefit and any other benefits?....I currently work 16 hours a fortnight.
Thanks for any help!
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