42 and pregnant - money advice needed

Urgent_advice_needed

Im 42, divorced, and just found out I am pregnant! Im not sure what to do, but before I make any decisions I wanted to see if I can afford to survive with a baby.

I currently work full time and pay a mortgage. Obviously with a baby my hours would be seriously reduced and I would have to have a small part time contract.

I know everyones circumstances are different, but could I get help with maybe paying my mortgage for a while and income help?

Thanks for your advice.

thriftylass

Urgent_advice_needed wrote: »

Im 42, divorced, and just found out I am pregnant! Im not sure what to do, but before I make any decisions I wanted to see if I can afford to survive with a baby.

I currently work full time and pay a mortgage. Obviously with a baby my hours would be seriously reduced and I would have to have a small part time contract.

I know everyones circumstances are different, but could I get help with maybe paying my mortgage for a while and income help?

Thanks for your advice.

Well, congratulations.

What you can get depends on how much you earn, but I don't think you get help with your mortgage though. You might only get child support from the father obviously and child benefit. If your earning are low you might get child tax credits, I think. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Plus you don't have to reduce your hours, most women I know go back full time after 9-12 months maternity leave (how much you get during that time depends on the work place, some give you extra then just the SMP if you worked there for more than a year etc). There are various government site you should check out like www.direct.gov.uk

**confuzzled**

Congratulations:)
I'd suggest check with your mortgage company as I know some do allow a 'maternity break' while pregnant to help prepare for the new arrival. Other than that, check what you get from your employer re: Maternity Pay. you're probably best speaking to CAB or similar about benefits you'd be entitled too, I believe that most of them are means-tested..could be wrong though

Might be worth asking on the pregnancy thread as someone will probably have been through this or similar.

HTH x

lozza1985

Congrats! :T

Not got many suggestions - but could well be worth checking if you can have a mortgage payment holiday, I know we can with ours, can take a month off for each year up to 3 months max in a row. Could be a way of being able to put some money aside for the essential baby things/cut in pay?

chirpchirp

I'm not sure if you could get help with the mortgage but I think there is some help available when you have become unemployed but I wouldn't think this would be a maternity benefit. CSA payments for a first child is 15% of wages and I think this might be the take home payments. I don't wish to pry, but if the father is your ex husband and you haven't come to a settlement yet then it might be better for you to arrange maitenance throught the courts as this can sometimes work out more than CSA amounts dependent on how amicable the situation is. However, from your post I think this may not be the case. I believer there is a maternity grant now available after so many weeks of your pregnancy which is either £100 or £150 and this would pay for a basic pram and or cot.

Hope this helps. I'm not sure whether to congratulate you or not, I'm not sure from your post how happy you are about this. So the best I can do is wish you good luck whatever you decide.

leah2255

Congratulations!
I like kids so i stand for keeping your baby. Though your circumstance is poor. But i think you can get child tax credit and ask for maternity leave. Also, you can ask your mortgage company for a maternity break.
Don't worry, everything is getting well. Always keep the faith!

jamespir

congrats if you want it could the father of the baby chip in go to entiledto and see what you can get

JennyJewell

Hey 'urgentadviceneeded'
Big congratulations The beauty of being a single mum is that you can bring your child up as YOU want to and you will enjoy so many many special moments together and build a bond compared to no other Very excited for you and I don't even know you,lol! There are loads of options - I would suggest that you go to Citizens Advice because there are literally SO many options for you The financial side is just a small part - get that bit sorted and look forward to all the joy coming your way
Good luck hunny
Jenny