benefits...

marmitehater

Here's one for you cos I'm quizzin it like mad....

I'm about to get married. My partner's on benefits and I've briefly moved away due to a job offer I couldn't refuse. Now, I believe when you're married, as a man, you're responsible for your wife therefore all benefits stop...as to my problem I haven't yet had chance to get a rented house sorted so what's the outcome here? If we have to put the wedding off til I get our home sorted much further away from my future wife I'll go nuts

Caz3121

What benefits does your partner receive? Where does your partner live now? If you are only separated by work you are possibly already a couple in the eyes of the benefits people (you don't need to be married to be treated as such)

What is your query around having a rented house?

BigAunty

The marriage is irrelevant and so is your gender. Means testing in benefits is only concerned with whether you are a couple, in which case there is a presumption that you mutually support each other and the income/savings of the partner is taken into account. If you were unemployed and your fiancee is in employment, she would be expected to support you.

Also, when partner's live together, it's not necessarily the case that all benefits are withdrawn. For example, there are some benefits that aren't means tested (Disability Living Allowance, for example) and others may be reduced but not fully cancelled depending on the level of income that the household has. So, for example, if there is housing benefit, council tax discount, etc, and the salary of the working partner is low, there is a possibility that some of these benefits are partly retained.

You need to detail your income, whether or not you are just working away from home but usually live with her as your primary residence, and what benefits your partner receives, or we can't really help.