how do you class a dependent child?

mandy_moo_1

my brother and his wife split up many years ago, and his wife got custody of their son

the son is now 16 years old and at college, and the ex-wife is claiming I.S for herself and him, as well as DLA and carers allowance as he has ADHD

however, the son is only living 3 nights at his mum's, and the other 4 nights at his dad's (my brother's)........so i was wondering, would my brother be entitled to any of the benefits she's claiming? i don't know how many nights a week you have to have a dependent child living with you to qualify

i'm only asking as i don't think its fair that my brother should be out of pocket, as he is only claiming I.S for himself at the moment

thanks in advance

Auzelia

I would assume it would be the main care giver who recieves the money.
I.e the person who has the child more days per week.

But I am sure someone with more knowledge will come along and correct me if wrong and explain

SuziQ

Does she have a residancy order? Often solicitors will advise this,as the money will often follow that and the child benefit. Clearly this is unfair,but I would imagine it would be very difficult for him to persuade her that she should share this money (depending on what level he gets and her income it can run up to arounf £500 pm if you include the extra premiums on ctc! I suppose the danger might be that she will stop him staying at his dads if she thinks she will lose the money.He has the child more days,so if she had no residency order he is the greater care giver.

Why has he never thought about this before? I would imagine the award has been in place for some time?

mandy_moo_1

the son has only started staying at my brother's 4 nights a week since May of this year, as his mother is a very heavy drinker and spends all her time in the pub. it's only been the these last few months that the son has been able to stand up to his mum, as he has got older.
she would never allow the son to visit his dad, but now that he is, he's able to find out for himself that his dad's not the bad person he was made out to be by the mum, and he prefers his dad's company as he doesn't drink and get aggressive like his mum

my brother was never actually married to the mother...they were just common law, so there was never anything done about residency etc

and you're right, there is NO WAY that the mother would halve the money she receives for the son.

so thats why i was wondering if she was still entitled to claim for the son, when he's only with her 3 nights a week

its difficult to get things across on here, but basically, if the son told his mum he wanted to live with his dad full time, she would wash her hands of him....and even tho she's not the best role model for a teenager, i don't think the son would want her to do that to him. WE all know he'd be better off without her, but at the end of the day, she's still his mum, so what do you do?