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Advice For A Friend....
PrincessPlaty
Posts: 2,084 Forumite
Ok im not sure this is the right place to put this as it cold fall into a couple of sections but thought id try it here first as I know how knowledgeable you all are 
Friend of mine has recently separated from her husband of 15 years she has 2 children with him under the age of 7.
They own their home, both names are on the deeds and mortgage however she has never paid towards it as she hasn't worked since they bought it.
They are still living under the same roof while she tries to find somewhere to private rent, however other than the agreed £200 a month he has offered her he isn't prepared to give her anymore money whilst they are living under the same roof (he pays all the bills etc).
Yesterday she put in a claim for income support and explained the situation they said they would process the claim but he couldn't be sure she would get it because she was still living there. Child tax credit forms have been sent to her. She has an appointment to open a new bank account (they currently only have joint ones). Other than child benefit which she is changing over to her bank as soon as it is opened all the money that goes into the account is his money. He wants her to remove her name from the joint accounts and she has agreed to this and is apparently giving him all the cards this evening.
We have just been to surestart to see if they know of any local services in the area that would be able to help her, the council have said no because she isn't homeless, she has found a private rent and she has approx half of the deposit but is short of the rest we are going to view it tomorrow and to speak to the landlord. However surestart have just told her that she is unlikely to get benefits paid for another house whilst her name is on the house they own, and legally he should be moving out because the children are there however she has said that she cant afford the mortgage and to run the house on her own so that isn't an option.
He has offered her 50% of the profit in the eventuality that the house is sold and there is profit, this is a signed and witnessed agreement between themselves. She is happy with this.
She keeps asking me what i think she should do but im really at a bit of a loss with all of this! It is all very amicable at the moment she just feels a bit awkward being under the same roof and apparently it is having an effect on the children.
Anybody give me a rough idea on what i should be advising her to do? Or at least a direction that i can point her in?
Friend of mine has recently separated from her husband of 15 years she has 2 children with him under the age of 7.
They own their home, both names are on the deeds and mortgage however she has never paid towards it as she hasn't worked since they bought it.
They are still living under the same roof while she tries to find somewhere to private rent, however other than the agreed £200 a month he has offered her he isn't prepared to give her anymore money whilst they are living under the same roof (he pays all the bills etc).
Yesterday she put in a claim for income support and explained the situation they said they would process the claim but he couldn't be sure she would get it because she was still living there. Child tax credit forms have been sent to her. She has an appointment to open a new bank account (they currently only have joint ones). Other than child benefit which she is changing over to her bank as soon as it is opened all the money that goes into the account is his money. He wants her to remove her name from the joint accounts and she has agreed to this and is apparently giving him all the cards this evening.
We have just been to surestart to see if they know of any local services in the area that would be able to help her, the council have said no because she isn't homeless, she has found a private rent and she has approx half of the deposit but is short of the rest we are going to view it tomorrow and to speak to the landlord. However surestart have just told her that she is unlikely to get benefits paid for another house whilst her name is on the house they own, and legally he should be moving out because the children are there however she has said that she cant afford the mortgage and to run the house on her own so that isn't an option.
He has offered her 50% of the profit in the eventuality that the house is sold and there is profit, this is a signed and witnessed agreement between themselves. She is happy with this.
She keeps asking me what i think she should do but im really at a bit of a loss with all of this! It is all very amicable at the moment she just feels a bit awkward being under the same roof and apparently it is having an effect on the children.
Anybody give me a rough idea on what i should be advising her to do? Or at least a direction that i can point her in?
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Comments
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Maybe a little part time job around school hours will give her a bit of confidence and financial independance0
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Her youngest is only at school part time at the moment until september she has only just turned 4, she has already said she intends on finding work as soon as she is in school full time.0
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PrincessPlaty wrote: »They are still living under the same roof while she tries to find somewhere to private rent, however other than the agreed £200 a month he has offered her he isn't prepared to give her anymore money whilst they are living under the same roof (he pays all the bills etc).
How does this compare with the amount he would have to pay if she went through the CSA?0 -
I think she should get some legal advice before she takes any further action. She should not agree to anything further with him, especially not in writing. she may not have contributed financially but she has contributed - she has raised his children. I suspect they are entitled to stay in the home, but she really needs to get some advice. You say she can't afford it, but he needs to contribute to keeping a roof over his kids' heads.I have had many Light Bulb Moments. The trouble is someone keeps turning the bulb off
1% over payments on cc 3.5/100 (March 2014)0 -
She will get 20% of his take home pay through the CSA, plus benefits so it might make the mortgage affordable for her. She could probably also get more than 50% of the equity in the house now if she was the one that moved out - he would have to remortgage to buy her out.
Also, make sure she fully removes her name from any joint accounts otherwise he can run up an overdraft and she could be liable for it.0 -
I have just found out there isn't any equity in the home infact it is in negative equity so i think im right in thinking it wouldn't affect any benefit entitlement unless the value of the property increased. At the moment if they were to sell there is a negative equity of 20k... im actually wondering if it is worth taking her name off of it to avoid any debt!
I really don't know. She is seeing a benefits advisor on friday at surestart and she is also going to go to the cab aswell for legal advice. Surestart are assigning her a support worker too.
The amount he has offered her is more than she would get if she went through the CSA he is also proposing to have them every weekend and 2 nights a week after school also.0 -
PrincessPlaty wrote: »this is a signed and witnessed agreement between themselves.
Anybody give me a rough idea on what i should be advising her to do?
First off? Tell her to stop signing agreements that could far too easily end up cutting her own financial throat unless she has taken good legal advice. It may be amicable now but the whole scenario smacks of manipulation and advantage taking. Why is she being so biddable?
Why is she going to be the one to move out and subject those two young children to all the upheaval and insecurity of moving into a possibly very precarious tenancy of a rented property?
Legal advice first, then all else will fall into place.0 -
This is what I said to her and all she keeps saying to me is that she cant afford to stay in the house i have no idea how but with bills and the mortgage she said they are currently paying just over 2k. I know they do have a DMP in place at £300 a month though again joint and he has agreed with her in writing that he will pay all her debt off to so she doesn't have any.... apparently there is about another 3 years left to pay on it and he has been paying it for the last 4 years.
She is very naive, doesn't have a clue how to use the internet which is why i have been trying to find out what i can for her however this isn't a situation that i have come across before
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PrincessPlaty wrote: ». At the moment if they were to sell there is a negative equity of 20k... im actually wondering if it is worth taking her name off of it to avoid any debt!
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She cannot do that if she is named on the mortgage she is equally liable for any defecit in it.
She urgently needs independant advice from a solicitor0
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