Just got married (Sad face)

sammyjammy

JSA based on contributions lasts for only six months. if your now wife has been claiming JSA for longer than that and at any period of time during that JSA claim you were living together she was claiming fraudulently, whether she knew it or not.

BigAunty

Youngest78 wrote: »

the fact of the matter remains that I cannot afford to 'keep' her, and her debts. .. .

As detailed previously, the actual marriage is irrelevant, if you live together, all means tested benefits should have taken into account your household income.

Since the inception of the welfare state, there has always been embedded into it the principle that partners should assist and support each other. Therefore over the approx past 70 years, there has been a culture where those in a relationship are supposed to share their income, so I'm not quite sure where the naievity comes from or why this is such a shock to you.

Your preference to keep your finances separate is a personal decision and is irrelevent to the principle enshrined in benefits that couples should share their money. Your approach to domestic financial matters is irrelevant to benefit calculations.

Your debts are also irrelevant to benefit calculations - for means tested benefits, it will always be based on the household income and capital. Your debt issues should be dealt with separately.

The Turn2us online benefit calculator will indicate if your household is due any benefits like council tax discount, housing benefit, tax credits or so on. This will not take into account your preference for separate finances or the debts that you are exposed to or your marital status.

If you are not entitled to any more benefits, then what you've got is budgeting and debt issues.

To help you with this, download the MSE budget planner and work through the site to identify where to slash outgoings. Post a Statement of Affairs on the Debt Free wanabee board and the posters there will help you develop a better debt management strategy, one that can either get them written off or repaid at a token sum. Look at the Direct Gov website for the information on Debt Management which contains a link to free expert advice by DM charities.