Guidance on form filling please

sams247

Hello all, I am taking the step (forward) inot BR, and I am filling out my form, I have read lots of advice but cannot find the answer to the puzzles I have, so please may I ask them here and gather all your knowledge! I am on the section for Outgoings in Statement of Affairs. Sorry if I am being simple here - but is this just asking for my half of the household outgoings, or the whole household outgoings? And part of the reason I question that is that my partner is a student and therefore I pay all the council tax for example. Also as a student my partner has some part time work here and there and has her student loan - for the student loan, is this to be declared as household income? And for the work, as what she contributes varies from month to month shoudl I put an average?

Thank you

miss_spooky

Hi sam247 welcome to the forums. You will get lots of advise so just keep asking those questions.

sams247 wrote: »

Hello all, I am taking the step (forward) inot BR, and I am filling out my form, I have read lots of advice but cannot find the answer to the puzzles I have, so please may I ask them here and gather all your knowledge! I am on the section for Outgoings in Statement of Affairs. Sorry if I am being simple here - but is this just asking for my half of the household outgoings, or the whole household outgoings? Firstly, is it just you goung br? In either case whether it be just you or both of you what you need to do is to put down the FULL household expenditure like rent utilities etc, then your own outgoings. I.E my OH had a CSA payment so this went on his, not mine - petrol, travel, clothing etc. And part of the reason I question that is that my partner is a student and therefore I pay all the council tax for example. Also as a student my partner has some part time work here and there and has her student loan - for the student loan, is this to be declared as household income? And for the work, as what she contributes varies from month to month shoudl I put an average? All you need to put is her contribution not full income. I think the usual is approx 1/3rd of household income. She needs to keep some back for her own expenditure.

The way I did this was to draw up a spread sheet with all the expendiutre - also an idea after br as I use it to check my outgoings each mth. Then I only put in my income with OH cont so that figures tallied. My income is just benefits so his cont was just approx 75% of his income. Hope this makes sense.

Thank you

Post up a SOA using this link then we can get a better idea & help you tweek it... http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Good luck on your first steps.

sams247

Thank you I appreciate that, I will see if I can be technical enough to post and soa on here!

philnicandamy

be brave!

if you use the supplied link from miss spooky make sure once your done to click on the "format for MSE" button (you cant miss it) that way you'll hopefully then be able to copy & paste into a new message box here

sams247

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 240
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1340

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 850
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 38
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 17
Telephone (land line)................... 50
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 17
Internet Services....................... 17
Groceries etc. ......................... 350
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 17
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1801


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
all............................36000.....200.......0
Total unsecured debts..........36000.....200.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,340
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,801
Available for debt repayments........... -461
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 200
Amount short for making debt repayments. -661

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -36,000
Net Assets.............................. -35,500

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

sams247

oh my goodness that worked, and oh my goodness it looks awful when set out like that! No wonder we've been struggling..........

We have been using my partners student loan to get by on most months and we have not been to the opticians, dentists for years......

sams247

How does that look?

tigerfeet2006

sams247 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 240
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1340

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 850 is this the norm for your area? How big is it?
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125 Have you got the reduced amount as your OH is a student?
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 38
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 17
Telephone (land line)................... 50
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 17 Not allowed on your SoA. Will have to come from surplus.
Internet Services....................... 17 Not allowed on your SoA. Will have to come from surplus. Unless essential for work or study
Groceries etc. ......................... 350
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60 what is this?
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 17
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 20 £10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 20
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1801


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
all............................36000.....200.......0
Total unsecured debts..........36000.....200.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,340
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,801
Available for debt repayments........... -461
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 200
Amount short for making debt repayments. -661

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -36,000
Net Assets.............................. -35,500

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

I've made some comments. Basically you need to get your expenditure down or your income up. Some judges will refuse BR unless you can show you can live within your means. Your greatest expenditure is your rent which is very high but may be the norm for your area

sams247

Thank you for that, I do need the internet for work as I work from home some days, and Sundays. The travel costs are split, my OH pays to go to London every day, and we both make use of the car, the £60 is what I pay in train travel to get to work every day. We live just outside London, this is the norm for a two bed pace, we are not partners in the conventional sense so we have a bedroom each.