Wife has concealed savngs

TotallyBroke

If she is planning to use the money for her daughter's education. I presume she would consider using it for the child you have together also.
Can you not suggest to her that she opens trust funds in her children's names and puts the money there.
It would then be an inheritance for the grandchildren from the grandmother for their education. Only the children can have access to the money once they reach 18yo.
If she is unwilling to do this then I believe that she is just interested in defrauding the LA and running the risk of getting you both into trouble.

I seriously hope you sort things soon.

GhostHunter_3

If you made a joint claim for the HB then I would go to the council and cancel the claim. Explaining the reason as you have just described it to us. You should also point out that at the time of signing you had no idea of this concealed money and therefore it was not your part commiting the offence of fraud. Surely it is therefore clear that the savings belonging to the guilty person should be used to pay off (hopefully) all or part of what you will be required to pay back? Therefore it is with her own selfishness and stupidity that suffers (other than if it was a genuine claim her daughters future education but in my opinion money cant buy qualifications its down to the person to study and become good in knowledge).


All I can say is I wish you the best of luck and keep us updated, I feel for you at this tough time good luck.

:beer:

welshmoneylover

Wow, what a story.

If it were me I'd have gone absolutely ballistic and question the marriage. BUT I'm never going to get married so my money is safe and mine.
If I were to get married I think I'd be a bit cagey about it, but that's me.

Hope you manage to sort it out, hun

Sue

hanny83_2

Unlawfulness/criminality, same difference. A married couple cannot be tried under conspiring to defraud. However, if you report your wife she can be prosecuted under the Social Security Administration Act 1992 Section 11A (1C)-(1F) which is dishonestly failing to notify a change or causing someone to fail to notify a change. Which is what she has done. The law does actually recognise that sometimes partners can act behind their partners' backs in order to make sufficient gain for themselves.

So the OP should know that there are laws on his side and if he does the honest thing any subsequent allegations against him can be taken into account as he would be the one to notify the council which aautomatically takes a third off any possible punishment.

As I say, as it is the OP's wife's account that has the money in (and quite a substantial amount!) the council will demand any overpayment back through the Proceeds of Crime Act from that money, as technically, that money has been obtained as a proceed of the offence.

hanny83_2

Oh and yes, the OP could be dragged to court- to testify against his wife. I'm guessing the overpayment will be substantial.

real1314

Just to echo much of whaat hanny has said:-
OP
1. From what you've described, it would be reasonably easy to conclude that you are telling the truth, espcially if you report this to the council asap. It might be worth ringing them and asking for an appointment.
2. It's almost inevitable that they will find out - the matches against revenue data pull this sort of thing out all the time.
3. It is possible that they will prosecute your wife.

You're left with a choice - do nothing and be found guilty when they find out, or say something now and inevitably drop your wife in it.

A tough choice to make, but one you need to address asap if you to be able to convince them of your innocence.

lilac_lady

Your wife didn't trust you enough to tell you about the money and is now threatening to say that you knew all about it. Whether you tell the council or not you have to decide if you want to stay in such a marriage.
BTW, I think you should ask the council for advice about your situation.

cte1111

I think you should contact the council and ask to cancel the housing benefit claim for now, then you're not getting into a worse mess, and you've taken action as soon as you knew about the savings. Once you've done this, you will need to discuss it with your wife, and work out how you're going to move on. Good luck, with both issues.

flossy_splodge

I would say get advice FIRST and URGENTLY and then immediately stop your claim.
I wish i could agree that common sense will be used by the authorities - unfortunately I doubt that will be the case.:o
Sorry to be dismal but PLEASE get proper advice BEFORE you do anything but get it URGENTLY.:eek:
Best of luck.

LizzieS_2

The different addresses will not fool the council - your joint HB claim will contain both your NI numbers, the cash she had is taxable and again her NI number will be used to pay that interest tax over to HMRC, the amount of tax deducted is a very good indication of the balance that is in the account.

Whichever way you look at it, the system is likely to catch up eventually. You can hope that you are lucky and get missed due to human error, or you can do the right thing and contact the council before they contact you.

Give your wife the choice of repaying before you report her.