Marital status for benefit claim - what to put?

maisonette

A relative will soon be retiring from their part time job and is eligible to claim pension credit as they only receive a very small state pension.

They separated from their husband around 9 years ago and have lived separately (hundreds of miles apart!) ever since but they are not divorced and neither party feels the need to even though the 'ex' has been living with their new partner for many years.

I was completing the 'pension credit estimate' on the directgov site and automatically put their marital status as 'single' but then it struck me - will this cause a problem when they come to claim as although they are most definitely single they are actually still married!

Anyone have any experience of this when it comes to claiming pension credit or benefits in general?

adamantine

is there not an option for "separated"? most gov forms have this option.

maisonette

adamantine wrote: »

is there not an option for "separated"? most gov forms have this option.

It was just the 'pensions credit checker' tool rather than an official form.

Good point so have just had a look at the form online and it asks "Do you have a partner...We use partner to mean a person you are married to or a person you live with as if you were married to them" If the answer is 'No' it says to go to section three.

If you tick 'Yes' it then asks "Are you separated from your partner" and if you tick 'Yes' it tells you to go to section three.

Am I right in thinking this means it disregards the partner if you are separated as it moves you forward to the same section as if you had said 'No' to a partner in the first place?

adamantine

maisonette wrote: »

It was just the 'pensions credit checker' tool rather than an official form.

Good point so have just had a look at the form online and it asks "Do you have a partner...We use partner to mean a person you are married to or a person you live with as if you were married to them" If the answer is 'No' it says to go to section three.

If you tick 'Yes' it then asks "Are you separated from your partner" and if you tick 'Yes' it tells you to go to section three.

Am I right in thinking this means it disregards the partner if you are separated as it moves you forward to the same section as if you had said 'No' to a partner in the first place?

yes it should disregard the partner/wife/husband in the case where you select "separated"

maisonette

Phew! Thanks for the pointer, I wouldn't have thought to look at the actual form as just doing rough calculations at this stage.

skater_kat

from direct.gov.

Do you have a partner?
Partner means a person you are married to, have a civil partnership with (including same-sex marriage), or live as a couple with and:
• is age 16 years or over, and
• is a member of the same household, and
• may temporarily not be living at the same address