Shared custody & benefits

cymrumam

I have remarried and have a 10 yr old from a previous relationship as well as 2 children with my present husband. I have a very amicable relationship with my ex and my son spends a lot of time there. He is however suffering extreme financial hardship and is on ESA. If I was to give him shared custody and sign over Child Benefit to him could he then claim for the time that my son spends with him and extra on his housing benefit claim as at the moment he has quite a shortfall on his rent. I can't claim any tax credits and I would continue to pay the childcare costs as we pay for a nanny to come in so there would be no extra costs for 3 children as there is 2. He has a bedroom at his dads and is there all weekend and a couple of nights a week. Are there any downsides to this I should be aware of and will he benefit financially from me doing this.

cosmic-dust

The only downside that I can see is that if you sign over the CB, he would then be able to claim child support from you. I know you say things are amicable but something to think about.

jojo_2012_2

If he's there all weekend and a few nights a week then he already lives with his dad and he should have been having the child benefit and all the other benefits all along.

I agree what the above poster has said about child maintenance it's definitely something to consider, put your details into a CSA calculator and see if you can afford to lose this money.

BigAunty

To be entitled to housing benefit, I believe that the property must be classed as the child's primary residence, therefore he will be the resident parent with child, the primary carer. You should consider the consequences of what this means, not just a way to help him pay his rent.

Other members can perhaps confirm this.

Is the shortfall on his rent because he is in a property that is much more expensive than his LHA? For example, is he under 35 as there is a ruling that the claimant is only entitled to a shared property rate of LHA or he is over 35, gets a 1 bedroom rate but is a 2 bed much dearer property?

RAS

You will have to pay your ex 15% of your income (including any tax credits if you are the higher earner) after a 20 percent allowance has been deducted for the two children living with you.

The issue for yourt ex at the moment may be

1. He is in a two bed house when only entitled to claim for 1 bed (or even house share if he is under 35).

2. The Local Housing allowance has been reduced to the 30 percentile and he may be in more expensive accomodation.

cymrumam

He stays on a friday and saturday night currently and goes over on a couple of nights in the week to visit but doesnt stay but that could be changed. At present I provide all the childcare, all his clothes etc and have therefore claimed the CB. He lives in a 2 bedroom and they will only pay for a 1 bedroom but realistically his rent is average for the area even for a 1 bedroom. He is struggling to feed himself. We help out where we can shopping, logs etc as it benefits my son but there is only so much I can do.

RAS

cymrumam wrote: »

He lives in a 2 bedroom and they will only pay for a 1 bedroom but realistically his rent is average for the area even for a 1 bedroom.

Unfortunately the government will not fund average rental costs; they will only fund cheap accomodation. You are aware that this may mean your ex and son having to move to a less nice area anyway?

You need to check out the Local Housing Allowance for his post-code.

hjsmum

I have no practical advice or anything but I just wanted to say how nice it is of you to try and help your ex out like this. If only more couples who split could behave like this towards each other