Seperated but living together?

pm123

Hi All,
My wife and I are currently seperating. We have decided that the house, which is in a joint mortgage, should be her home for the two children we have together. I'm going to continue with the mortgage payments until the divorce is complete and a decision has been made on the family home.
My wife only earns £110 a month plus child benefit £130 plus the maintenance I pay £580. If I leave the house she will not be able to afford the bills and I cannot afford to support a mortgage, bills and then rented accomodation and bills for myself.
We have had lots of contradicting advice from different people as to the benefits she could recieve. One person at the Job Centre stated that she cannot claim benefits whilst I'm still living in the home, another person stated that it would take months before she could receive benefits. Either way I cant see a situation where we end up in debt due to running a house and rented accomodation and its already a very stressful time.
I'm sure someone must have come across this situation before and would be able to advise on the best way forward. Please help!

Many Thanks
Paul

Vader123

It is very hard to claim that you or your wife is "single" while you are living there. One of the tests of "living as husband and wife" is a shared surname and where you live.

You fail that basic test in your current circs.

Vader

missmontana

do you not have any friends or family you could stay with?

How old are the children?

DX2

It will be very hard to prove that you no longer are a couple. It can happen though. You will have to life seperate life's, for example you do your own shopping/cleaning/eating. Not shaing the same bed either.

74jax

How many hours does your wife work, would she not be entitled to council tax benefit and tax credits when you leave?

DX2

74jax wrote: »

How many hours does your wife work, would she not be entitled to council tax benefit and tax credits when you leave?

No Hb when you own your own house.

74jax I must apologise nowhere in your post does it mention Hb so I have no idea why I replied with the above!

uganda

Hello OP, firstly I don't envy you your current position and I have every sympathy. I hope it sorts itself out quickly for the sake of everybody involved, especially your children of course, but also for you and your ex-wife.

You have a complex situation and I would very much advise that you go to the CAB or other legal advice centre as soon as possible. I will give a little bit of advice though as some of what has been stated in this thread so far needs clarification or even outright contradiction.

I have just posted on another thread about the definition of living together as a couple so I am cutting and pasting the relevant bit here:

Living together as a couple, for benefit purposes, does not necessarily mean the two are romantically involved. It is not necessarily whether they sleep together, for example, that determines if they are a couple (and of course there are housemates who occasionally sleep together but are not couples) but generally whether they are financially dependent on each other or, as in this case, one is financially dependent on the other.

There is a certain amount of interpretation involved in making the decision that they are a couple for benefit purposes, and it is possible that in their individual case (about which I am not in possession of all the facts) they will be judged not to be a couple after all, but purely from what you say, they could easily be.

I should stress that the concept of 'living together as husband and wife' is not defined in Social Security or Housing Benefit legislation. There is a great deal of case law on the subject and the definition is ever-changing. Also, if the DWP considers you and your ex to be a couple, this does not necessarily mean that the local authority must do so for Housing Benefit purposes (though in practice of course, they most often do).

I realise this is not the world's most satisfactory answer but you should be able to use this information if you need to appeal against a later adverse decision.

Now, if you leave. DX2's advice that there is no HB when you own your own house is I'm sure well-meant, but plain wrong if he is referring to benefits you could claim. If he is referring to benefits your wife can claim, then it is not relevant as the post he is replying to refers to Council Tax Benefit and Tax Credits, which with her low income she may well qualify for. In fact she may well qualify for Income Support if she only gets £110 per month.

If you find yourself in rented accommodation and on a low wage you could most definitely claim Housing Benefit. You might not get it if your income and capital are too high (it certainly sounds as if your income may be) but your marital home would not count towards your capital while your ex was living in it as a lone parent.

There are plenty of other areas of legislation which could be relevant to your case, so don't rely on what I am telling you here as exhaustive. Feel free to send me a private message with any other specific queries - if I am not qualified to respond I will say so, otherwise I will happily give you the benefit of my knowledge.

SuziQ

Do you pay the mortgage of £580 or is that just money you pay her? I ask,as I was told that the half mortgage my husband pays for my house (cannot sell it as he has debts against it he can't yet clear) is not counted as maintenance. I get IS ,CTC and CTB. My half of the mortgage is mostly coverd by IS .I don't work as yet however. My ex was in the same position and is now living in a bedsit,having lived at his mums for a year.-it is very unfair at his age but until he clears the debt we are stuck with our current arrangement.

aimee0763

DX2 wrote: »

No Hb when you own your own house.

Absolute rubbish many people who have their own homes and claim benefit can claim HB where do you get your advice from? this is the very reason people should check with their Local Council and Benefit Office than just on forum.

aimee0763

pm123 wrote: »

Hi All,
My wife and I are currently seperating. We have decided that the house, which is in a joint mortgage, should be her home for the two children we have together. I'm going to continue with the mortgage payments until the divorce is complete and a decision has been made on the family home.
My wife only earns £110 a month plus child benefit £130 plus the maintenance I pay £580. If I leave the house she will not be able to afford the bills and I cannot afford to support a mortgage, bills and then rented accomodation and bills for myself.
We have had lots of contradicting advice from different people as to the benefits she could recieve. One person at the Job Centre stated that she cannot claim benefits whilst I'm still living in the home, another person stated that it would take months before she could receive benefits. Either way I cant see a situation where we end up in debt due to running a house and rented accomodation and its already a very stressful time.
I'm sure someone must have come across this situation before and would be able to advise on the best way forward. Please help!

Many Thanks
Paul

So sorry to hear your story please get yourself professional advice there are Legal Aid and Community Legal Advice they are pretty good and will give you the best advice. It doesn't matter about you and your wife sharing the same surname both your circumstances has changed due to separation and two people can live like stranger in the same home as long as you are not sharing a bed as a couple.

http://www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/en/legalaid/


hope this help

DX2

aimee0763 wrote: »

Absolute rubbish many people who have their own homes and claim benefit can claim HB where do you get your advice from? this is the very reason people should check with their Local Council and Benefit Office than just on forum.

Really love you show me where exactly you get housibg benefit if you own your own house, for days you have come here sniping at little things and you don't have a clue about any benefits.