Housing benefit

jdoymc

My partner has his decree nisi and has been advised by his solicitor not to get his absolute as his ex is ill and it would benefit him more to be a widower than a divorcee.
He has been given a council bungalow and has applied for pension credit and housing benefit, both of which he has been turned down on due to the fact he has equity in the house they shared together. He was locked out of it just under a year ago for no reason and his wife is doing all she can to make things difficult.
As the house is occupied by his ex and he has no access to any of it or his belongings, can the local council actually use the equity to stop him from getting benefits?

dmg24

Unless the house is being actively marketed for sale, it will be counted as equity.

My partner has his decree nisi and has been advised by his solicitor not to get his absolute as his ex is ill and it would benefit him more to be a widower than a divorcee.

Sick. He should be ashamed of himself.

cattie

jdoymc wrote: »

My partner has his decree nisi and has been advised by his solicitor not to get his absolute as his ex is ill and it would benefit him more to be a widower than a divorcee.
?

Have to agree with dmg, it sounds rather a sick suggestion.

It sounds as if he is waiting for his wife to die & inheriting the house & any other benefits that being a widower would qualify him for.

As he is joint owner of the house & been provided with alternative council accomodation then equity in the house will be counted as capital, which is exactly what the council have told him.

V123_2

Yes, sounds appalling that he would try and claim his wife's share of the equity from the house when she dies, when he is no longer with her. Her relatives should receive that - not him.

He will have to either force his wife to sell the house to release his equity or else buy his share by re-mortgaging (if she is able to obtain a re-mortgage that is). Regardless of this he still has capital somewhere.

V123_2

oh, and you state that he has no access to the house or his belongings, yet all he has to do is get the police to accompany him to the house if she is refusing access. She has no right to stop him entering the property if he jointly owns it, nor can she stop him removing his belongings.

Oldernotwiser

I'm sure that it's perfectly possible for someone who's one of the owners in this situation to force a sale of the property.

The_Banker_5

I dont believe some of these threads.;)

asandwhen

wow - sounds like your friends ex did the right thing!