Marriage, relationships & families

My (kind of) mother-in-law (aged 93) has three children, two are married and I co-habit with the third. MIL has recently sold a property (not her main residence) and wants to give the three children £42,000 each. She is not on benefits and has sufficient money in her bank account to keep her comfortable together with her…

Hi all, Sorry if this is in the wrong category. So, my mum is about to come into a large amount of money which on the face of it is great. Problem is she has a history of mental health issues, very bad with money and her benefits will stop. I have no idea what to suggest, or who to go to for help. I have tried explaining…

I Just received an email from a Business Manager of Tower Hamlets council, telling me that there will be no more ARG payments for businesses, Tower Hamlets Council have decided to use the ARG funds supplied to them for struggling local businesses to finance other (Vanity) projects. Anyone else out there had a problem…

Hello, I'm not entirely sure I've posted into the correct section. If this post needs to be moved to another thread, please do so or let me know to follow site rules. Recently (within the last week) I was attacked by a dog at a relative’s house, the owner of the dog is another relative, I was admitted to hospital and had…

A friend of mine had to let a builder into her daughter’s flat which she shares with her boyfriend. His diary was lying around and she read it. In the diary she discovered that six months ago his mother attempted suicide by claiming she was going to jump from the top of a car park. Police involved etc. I say claimed…

Hi all, just got a lovely new cleaner recommended from a neighbour on Next Door. She is paid for 3 hrs a week and self employed. I have done no checks re right to work etc as she is currently used by other neighbours. Do I need to check on her legal status etc? All I can find on here is that self-employed do not need…

SOMEONE PLEAAASSSEEE HELP ME! In 2007 I bought a house in Manchester with my ex, soon after the “credit crunch” hit and we literally lost half the value of the house. In 2011 we separated and I moved back to London (I have not been to the house since!). We couldn’t sell the house because of the massive negative equity, it…

I have been living with my boyfriend for 9 years and he moved in with me and my children now 22 and 17 into my house that I own. He has paid me money every month towards food etc. Now we are splitting up and he wants half the equity in the house which is about £120k. He hasn't paid for anything to be done to the house like…

my ex left all his belongings with me when he left to go and live with someone else. Until recently he owned half of the house. Now I own it. How do I get him to take his belongings, they are all boxed and ready to go but are taking up a whole bedroom which I want to now use. He has said several times he would come for…

Well - as you can probably guess from the title.... I'm relocating and I feel very nervous about it! Brief background - Partner moved in with me and my children last year, its all been going well. He was offered a position within a new company that he simply cannot turn down (and I wouldn't want him to, its his dream job)…

First let me say that I know hate is a very strong word and I dont so much hate the person, I hate what she did and the effect it has had on the whole family. I'm holding on to so much anger and I know it's not good for me but I cant see a way past it. I fell out with a close family member that I was always very close to…

Regarding my parents, who are in their 90’s, living in their own home. I’m their son and sole carer. I’ve been living with them the past 3-4 years as an unpaid 24/7 carer for Mum, who has Alzheimer’s. Dad could look after himself, pretty much, that is until about 6 months ago, when he was forced to swap his zimmer frame…

Following on from the Free baby stuff thread started in 2016, here's a pristine new one to log the most up to date deals. Mums and dads to be, hopefully we'll see this list of free baby stuff grow and grow. 👶👶👶 Also, take a look at the Baby checklist guide over at MoneySavingExpert.com, which includes 40+ tricks and tips…

how can you tell if someone has put a tracker on your car? would a garage or an alarm place be able to scan it to see? thank you

Hi all, My sibling and I have a good relationship and although we don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like (we live at opposite ends of the country) we speak regularly and are on good terms. Several years ago our mother died unexpectedly - to cut a long story short we had to sell her house to pay off the debts she…

Hi I took a cheap strip pregnancy test this morning as period is due in a few days. A pink blob appeared straight away, where the positive line would be. Any ideas what this might mean? I'm reluctant to keep testing, but wondered if anybody else has ever had this happen and what the outcome was?

Hi all We recently got married and are looking to have our professional photos put into an album. Our photographer has offered us a 20 page 8 inch booklet for £350 pounds. However, it's way beyond what we would be willing to pay for that sort of thing. Can anyone give any alternative suggestions or companies that might be…

There are some types who will take full advantage of others' generosity, and it looks like this is a classic example of a confidence trickster at work. Don't send him money or waste it on a card, as he's entitled to neither.

Give each child the same amount. Nobody's forcing one of your children to live in London, where earnings are higher than average, and there's no reason why he or she can't use them to get a top-up mortgage to meet the extra costs of living there. 

Was in a shop recently and a family were struggling to pay for the items they'd chosen. They were reducing the cost by leaving some adult non essentials (wine etc) but kept a fairly large toy for their child when the cashier queried that. I wanted to offer to pay for their shop but I was worried about overstepping because…