PhD student and working partner and child?!

Killmark

fatbadger wrote: »

And as for "potential risk of your current partner's prosecution for benefit fraud"... as I tried to explain, *at what point do you call someone a couple* after 1 day, 1 week, 6 months?? and when do you phone DWP to tell them? We have relatively recently become a couple, we want to get married as a sign of commitment, and we want to tell DWP. That is not a bad thing. But we don't want to be worse off becasue of it.

"For better or for Worse"

In regards to how a couple is defined it depends on each individual case, for example they will look at whether you have shared finances, whether you shop as a couple, time spent in each others company and a variety of other factors.

If it is later decided that your partner failed to inform of a change of circumstances she could be prosecuted, could face having to repay overpaid or benefits to which she was no longer entitled to.

fatbadger

Why so judgmental?

"If I were doing something illegal I would be happy to be warned about this so I could regularise the situation."
We are not illegal, we are b/f and g/f. The DWP states that a partner is someone who you live with 'as if married'. We are not, but want to.

"I would also worry about marrying someone whose idea of commitment could be bought for a few pounds and who was putting me at risk of a criminal record and a custodial sentence."
Hold your horses! Did I mention the reply sounds judgmental? You are looking at computer screen, I think I know better than you.

"you will be far better off when you move in together and no longer have to pay to maintain two households"

My present accommodation is free, so no I won't.

nannytone_2

you are doing something iilegal! trust us, phone the DWP and ask them if you dont believe us! your g/f is claiming as a single parent while being assisted financially by you!
i dont know where you are getting your information from or if youre just selective about which parts you think describe your situation.
if your finances are joint, she cannot claim as a single person!
just because we're not saying what you want to hear doent make us wrong!

fatbadger

I didn't say our finances were joint. You're being judgmental again. We share resources like any couple that are beginning to trust each other do. We don't have joint accounts or pay each others bills. She doesn't have an 'income' from me or 'support'.

We need to plan ahead and the lack of clarity about stipend income is confusing.

It is stipend money and CTC I wanted advice on, not judgment on my g/fs character. Unless you can enlighten me on phd money and CTC, please resist comment and say nothing.

dmg24

fatbadger wrote: »

I didn't say our finances were joint.

You seem to be contradicting yourself fatbadger, unless you are saying that finances are not a resource?

fatbadger wrote: »

No, but we pool all our resouces and are a couple.

nannytone_2

i think you'll find you did say it. look at your second post.....................'we pool all our resources'
i gave advice about your stipend.......as far as means tested benefits are concerned (CTC is means tested) your stipend will be classed as income!!!
i dont have a joint account and i have my own bills as does my OH, but we are a couple!

ERICS_MUM

fatbadger wrote: »

I didn't say our finances were joint. You're being judgmental again. We share resources like any couple that are beginning to trust each other do. We don't have joint accounts or pay each others bills. She doesn't have an 'income' from me or 'support'.

We need to plan ahead and the lack of clarity about stipend income is confusing.

It is stipend money and CTC I wanted advice on, not judgment on my g/fs character. Unless you can enlighten me on phd money and CTC, please resist comment and say nothing.

calm down, you are reading far too much into these posts. Nobody is making judgements, just some assumptions to clarify your position and around which they can put some answers/suggestions.

Plans_all_plans

I believe you have to declare the money you get for studying for child tax credits purposes. One way to find out for sure is to ring them and ask for a form and then you can have a look through to see exactly what needs declaring.

dmg24

nannytone wrote: »

i think you'll find you did say it. look at your second post.....................'we pool all our resources'
i gave advice about your stipend.......as far as means tested benefits are concerned (CTC is means tested) your stipend will be classed as income!!!
i dont have a joint account and i have my own bills as does my OH, but we are a couple!

If it is a s. 331 payment it will not be counted as income for TC purposes.

fatbadger2

dmg24 - sincere thanks.

The 331 tax exempt payment is v useful. If it is not income I am v happy, but I will check now that I have something to go on. Thanks!