Seperate Lives Same House.

adewolves

I hope I've put this in the right section, and sorry if it's a bit long winded but here goes.

In September I found out my wife had cheated on me and to cut a long story short that was it as far as the marrige was concerned. After numerous bust ups and arguments things settled down but there was no way back for the marrige we both knew that. We still remain friends although she has now met someone else.

We both live together in a 2 bedroomed housing Association house, joint tenancy, with 2 daughters aged 15 (at school) and 16 (full time non advanced education). Initially I said I would try to find a flat but after getting turned down by my local housing, saying I wasn't in need of housing I decided I wasn't moving, after all I hadn't done anything wrong.

My wife agreed with this and decided she would try and get a place for herself and our youngest daughter the eldest wants to stay with me, she is in the process of doing this now.

At the moment we live totally seperate lives, she sleeps in the girls bedroom with our 2 daughters, I sleep in the smaller bedroom by myself, we don't eat together, I don';t cook or wash for her etc, totally seperate lives.

She works 16 hours a week although sometimes more but not enough to get wtc, I am not working at the moment. She gets her wage paid into a joint account of ours and I get ctc paid into the same account, the only other money we get is cb paid into the same account.

She recently got a solicitor (free advice from somewhere) who advised her that she needs to seperate the money, so we also live seperate lives on a financial basis as well. I don't understand how this would or could work. Could someone please explain. Could I claim JSA, if so what would happen regarding ctc then, it's just a minefield to me to be honest. The sooner we are living seperate lives in the real sense (seperate properties the better for all concerned) but her solicitor said that doing the financial thing would speed things up. Please advise.

FBaby

The bottom line is that from a benefit point of view, you would have to prove that you are not living as husband and wife (including partners) and that you don't intend on doing so again. How this is determined is very much up to the DWP and HMRC to decide.

One key strikes against you would indeed be a joint account and going on living together for months. Whereas it is appreciated that it can take some time after separating for one to move out and start living physically separatly, it normally would be expected not to take more than 6 months especially when there is no property to sale.

I think you and wife might be on thin grounds to justify that you are not living together, especially if you have stopped looking for somewhere to move to.

rogerblack

To make another point - you are committing benefit fraud by continuing to claim as you are.
You are not able to choose to make a couples or a single claim - if you are not a couple, you cannot choose to claim as if you are, and you must notify them that you are not.
The problem arises when proving that you are not a couple, as the total income may rise due to this.
Seperating the finances should be done, as should single claims for benefits.

adewolves

Thanks for the advice. Seperate bank accounts are being sorted this weekend. Who would be the first people to get in touch with regarding this, which department?

allen35

I would suggest HMRC and local authority, be aware though, it's going to be a rocky road for both of you...

Glen_Clark

I know a couple who split up and got separate houses on benefits.
This was on the grounds that each were granted access to the children who needed a place to stay when they visited.
They are much less than15 though.
Is it too late to have a few more kids