Benefits whilst waiting for Divorce

spidercrab

Hello - just wondered if any of you knowledgeable people could help with advice on benefits.

My sister has been married for many, many years and really wants to get a divorce (grown apart and nothing in common). Their house is paid for and when split 50/50 they would both have enough for their own place. She has never had to work since she was 18 and has stayed at home and raised the family who now all live elsewhere. Just her and husband at home.

She desperately wants to get out, although he doesn't even know she wants a divorce - he will definitely be awkward about any financial matters and will probably freeze bank accounts etc leaving her with no money.

She wants to stay with our parents (pensioners) but would obviously need to pay her way. She will obviously have to look for a job but to be quite honest I don't think this will be easy as she is getting on for 60 and as I said, has not worked since she was 18.

Would she be entitled to any benefits whilst staying with my parents and waiting for the house/divorce settlement. Any info would be appreciated.

Caz3121

if she is looking for work she should be able to claim income based JSA which is around £72 per week
Are there any savings in her name or joint names? if over £16k then no JSA payment will be paid. If <£16k but >£6k then the amount will be reduced

spidercrab

She has savings in joint names but I reckon he will freeze any account as soon as she mentions divorce. She cannot access savings now as it would need his signature too.

cattie

If savings are in joint names then I think you will find he cannot freeze any funds without a court order.

comeandgo

So if she can't access savings as it needs two signatures then I guess he can't access them either? She should open a bank account in her name and start putting some cash aside and she will have an account ready if she does get any benefits. She should also be entitled to half of the marriage assets and any pension husband has.

spidercrab

Thanks for your comments. On speaking with my sister, I believe he has now moved savings into another investment - she signed for something a while ago and thinks this is what happened. I don't think it is now in joint names. She does have her own bank account but there is very little in it and she has to rely on what money he gives her - she cannot access any other money. She knows she will be entitled to half of marriage assets but it is just in the meantime while things are being sorted out, she will not have any accessible income. That is why I wanted to know if she could get benefits.

RAS

Hi

She needs to look here: www.turn2us.org.uk

She will have to apply for JSA and all that entails. So she needs to get a CV written etc (you cannot apply for JSA without demonstrating that you have made an effort to look for work.

Can she get a copy of her own credit record? Just in case that shows any joint accounts?

Or maybe gives her enough information to get copies of old statements so shew knows how much he transferred from the joint account?

Has she actually checked the deeds at the Land Registry to make sure the property is a joint tenancy? Costs about £3.

Also she may as a home owner be able to apply now for a credit card that allowed her a small amount of credit to cover the first few weeks while she waits for benefits to be paid?

Is there anything in the house that she could sell? Either remove with ehr and sell or sell now if she thought it unlikely he would realise?

And could she apply now for part-time work to get some sort of job history?

Finally, go over to the Money Saving Old Style forum and see if she can find ways of making "his" money go further so she can put a few quid aside.

And ask her parents about their situation as they may have to amend their benefits claims and that may result in those payments being delayed. She will count as a non-dependant living with them, I think.

clearingout

assuming he is out of the house all day at work and is reliable in terms of what time he goes out/comes home...I would suggest your sister gets smart and starts working her way through the house with a fine tooth comb. She will need evidence of investments, bank accounts, insurance policies, pensions etc. if they are to be considered 'marital assets' in the event of divorce. If it comes to it and the financial side of things needs to be put in front of a judge, he/she can't do anything if there is no evidence that money ever existed. Anything she finds should be copied and put back immediately (within the same day - if she has copying facilities at home on her printer, she should order in some ink if not, locate her nearest public copier but be aware of who might see her using it). Go back as many years as she can find the paperwork for - if he's controlling of money (and it sounds that way), who knows what she could uncover.

She should not trust anyone - including her own children - to keep this a secret for her. Just go about it quietly and methodically so that she can leave knowing she has what she needs. She can lodge the copies of the paperwork with you so there's no chance of them being lost or having her husband come across it as he goes about his daily business. If he realises what she is up to, money may well disappear without trace. This way, she has a fighting chance.

I know it's all cloak and dagger but as someone who lost a lot in divorce (at a far younger age with plenty of work experience behind her), I know how easy it is to lie and get away with it in the courts. If he doesn't suspect anything, the chances are the paperwork is hanging about the house somewhere.

The situation with benefits is difficult - if she has investments in her name or joint names, she will need to declare them. And if she declares them and they are more than whatever the threshold is (£6 - 16k?) then she is unlikely to be entitled. You could clarify this with a trip to your local CAB who will be happy to help - I'm not an expert but I do think she will struggle if her savings are considerable, regardless of whether she has access to them or not.

clearingout

oh and just to say, a soon to be ex husband who doesn't want a divorce and/or who wants to be diffcult, can delay a divorce for months...if not years. She really shouldn't leave until she is sure she knows where she stands and how she's going to manage.

spidercrab

Thanks for your really helpful comments. We have already been sneaky - I am divorced myself so I know a few tricks. Copies of documents have already been taken and are kept at my house - we don't even know what some of them are! The house is definitely in both names as we found copies of deeds. I think she does have a credit card but the statement goes to him as he is the one who brings the money in (it must be joint names). She is totally reliant on him for every penny and I know that if she starts proceedings against him the first thing he will do is take her car off her, which in turn would make her job search more difficult. She is finding it almost impossible to make the first step as she knows how awful he is going to be. He is actually not a bad bloke but he is getting extremely careful with money but then again, we all are at the moment.

xylophone

take her car off her,

Is it actually his car?