tax credits new to me..

nervousmother

hello people, im hoping you can give me some advice on how the benefits work.

Up until last week I was happily married and not claiming anything. OH had a good job and I work 30hrs per week and receive £12500 pa. Oh well self employed income up and down but never entitled to anything.

Well we have split up and I need to know how the system works. Someone pointed me to entitledto.com that said as i have 3 children i can claim forget around £600pm
when i was looking on the site it asked about income 08/09. What i need to know is because the 'family' has had a lot of income since april will i be able to claim anything now? when i need it? or do they take into account the income from the last months?

I will get inc family allowance about £1600 for me and 3 kids then £9pw council tax releif? my mortgage has still got to be paid?
god what a mess.
can someone please tell me what to do next.

DreamerV

You need to phone 0845 3003900 with your national insurance number and get a claim form issued from there. They will want 08/09 income first, as this is what you'll need to put on the forms. As you are now single, you'll need to just give your income from that year not his. On that income you'd be entitled to a little working tax (if that was your gross income, not your net), and a fair bit of child tax credits. If your 09/10 income is less than your own 08/09 income, you can give them an estimate of this too, to give you a better idea of what you might be entitled to.

nervousmother

Thank you, will it make any difference that we have a mortgage and equity in our home?

EDIT yes was my gross income.

mazza111

As you were in a relationship last year and aren't any more, I believe they will take your income into account for last year. The tax credits helpline really are good when it comes to things like this.

Me at my x has a joint claim. As soon as we split up, I contacted them and the redone the claim using my income only.

DreamerV

nervousmother wrote: »

Thank you, will it make any difference that we have a mortgage and equity in our home?

EDIT yes was my gross income.

They don't care about mortgage, equity, savings, etc. They care about earnings e.g. if you make income from properties by renting to others, if you make interest on your bank savings that go over £300, if you get dividend income, income from taxable benefits (child benefit, disability living allowance, housing and council tax benefit dont count for this, but incapacity benefit does for example).

And on that gross income, with no other taxable earnings yourself, you should be entitled to working tax credits as well...the limit's about £13100 for that.

By the way, the tax credit office are open 7 days a week, so they're open now if you have any questions. 8am to 8pm.

cabbage

Hi

You will need to make arrangements to pay your mortgage and child maintenance with your ex OH and decide what to do with the house.

You can do this a number of ways including using a solicitor, using mediation or drawing up an agreement between yourselves.

The first can be expensive and the last can be tricky if your OH decides not to pay one month and you are then going to have to instruct solicitors to get it sorted.

If you are still talking to each other, mediation might be the way forward. There is a charge for this service but its a quicker way of getting to a financial settlement and agreements re the children. On average it can be sorted with around 1 - 3 sessions. If these are weekly, you could reach an agreement in three weeks. At the end of mediation, your mediator draws up an agreement for you to take to a solicitor to make legally binding. If you qualify for legal aid, then mediation is free. Usually your first session is free as it assesses if mediation is appropriate.

There's some info here on ending a marriage and mediation from CAB

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/f_ending_a_marriage.pdf

nervousmother

Well nearly a week later and yesterday I phoned the tax credits. They go on my income for last year and not my ex. They also asked me for my income for this financial year. They will send me my award letter but I never asked how much it was for. I will also phone the council on monday and see if i can get a council tax reduction, not sure how that will work though as this financial years council tax is fully paid for now.

My EX has agreed to continue to pay the mortgage until the youngest is out of full time education, I know sometimes things change but I because of the reasons of the split I know he will, however when it comes to solicitors i want it in writing.

Apart from that i want nothing from him, no maintenance nothing. I will have everything in the house apart from some smaller things that can help him and are not needed here, pots ect. I am also having our beloved caravan but will sell it in march time to pay for a new car for me. The mortgage is only £260pm and he earns about £30k so i know i wont be breaking him.

Thank you for the advice you have given me. 19 years together I never in a million years expected to be sat here asking about benefits. I will continue to work but may decrease my hours as the kids now need me more.

hunnycat

nervousmother wrote: »

Well nearly a week later and yesterday I phoned the tax credits. They go on my income for last year and not my ex. They also asked me for my income for this financial year. They will send me my award letter but I never asked how much it was for. I will also phone the council on monday and see if i can get a council tax reduction, not sure how that will work though as this financial years council tax is fully paid for now.

My EX has agreed to continue to pay the mortgage until the youngest is out of full time education, I know sometimes things change but I because of the reasons of the split I know he will, however when it comes to solicitors i want it in writing.

Apart from that i want nothing from him, no maintenance nothing. I will have everything in the house apart from some smaller things that can help him and are not needed here, pots ect. I am also having our beloved caravan but will sell it in march time to pay for a new car for me. The mortgage is only £260pm and he earns about £30k so i know i wont be breaking him.

Thank you for the advice you have given me. 19 years together I never in a million years expected to be sat here asking about benefits. I will continue to work but may decrease my hours as the kids now need me more.

you should be entitled to the 25%reduction for living alone on council tax (children dont count) It should come into effect from the day he moved out so have that date to hand when you call, also if you have paid up for the year they will either refund or transfer it directly onto next years bill but they probably wont do that until the end of the tax year.