Income support & mortgages

alidee_2

HI

My husband left me recently and I made a claim for Income support and help with my mortgage. DWP have decided that they will not help me with mortgage until March 2007 as I took it out after Oct 1995 (this was a re mortgage),unless I can prove abandonment.Well....he has abandonded me so what do i do and how do you prove that??
At the moment I am just about to use another month of mortgage holiday but then I'm stuffed. I really want to find work and if I do I will be a LOT worse off if I have to pay my whole mortgage.
If anyone has any ideas on how you prove you've been abandoned I'd be really grateful. I have already written one letter to them explaining this but was obviously not good enough.A real big thanks for any replies in advance.

zzzLazyDaisy

Hi, sorry you are in this position.

In order to show you have been 'abandoned' you have to show you were deserted by your husband. That is to say, he left you, against your will, and with no encouragement or consent by you.

So if the marriage had broken down and you told him to go, or when he went you made it clear he wasn't welcome back, then you haven't been abandoned. If, at the other extreme, you have begged and pleaded with him to come back but he has literally callously walked out and abandoned you, then you meet the criteria.

Here is a copy of the relevant decision:

http://www.hywels.clara.co.uk/commrs/cis/is517797.htm

To be honest, most marriage breakdowns are more complicated than one party walking out without a backward glance, never to be seen again. There is usually an element of consent by the abandoned person, through anger, resentment and/or total exhaustion they just accept that there is no alternative but to split. I guess one way to prove abandonment would be to stress to the DWP that you do not want, and never have wanted this situation and that you would have him back tomorrow. But would you???

alidee_2

many thanks lazydaisy . will plough through that later