Divorce & Effect

Kayalana99

Just wanted some advice on things to think about (not me)

Couple have two kids(6f,10m), married and are separating.

Woman has no job, lost it middle of last year got a temp job over xmas and who the post is aimed at.

Currently the man is in the property still, he has offered to keep paying the mortgage and move out. (I understand a lot of men say this at first, I'm lead to believe he has a good paid job guess 25k-30k but I really just don't know but I can see the end result him not being able to afford to move out and pay the mortgage here)

She's asked us to look at what she's entitled to, my only question really is as she was working last year briefly (I would guess about 3k earnings but I could be totally of the mark here) can you ask tax credits to not take that into account as she will be struggling this year?

Is their anything else?

My suggestion (but I have a feeling it will be ignored when I make it) is to sell the house and rent, this giving her house benefits + child support where as while she's living their she is relying on him to pay the mortgage as I am guessing she won't be able to afford it otherwise.

Whilst the man has good intentions I don't see this panning out long term and think that is the safest bet for her to 'set up' so she is not relying on him. I assume she will start looking for a job as well.

pathtofreedom

This is always a good place to start

http://www.entitledto.co.uk/

nannytone_2

is the house in both names?
if it is sold, then she won't be able to get housing benefit or any income related benefits if she had 16k or more in savings.
more than 6k in savings would reduce the amount of benefit she receives.
is there any equity in the house?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

where are the kids going?

Ok, so he can afford to pay the mortgage, but, if he moves out he will have to pay rent elsewhere, can he afford that?

Kayalana99

Thank you done the calculator but their are so many what ifs right now it's hard to really rely on it. The kids will stay with mother in the house, that I just don't know he is not great with money so I doubt he would of thought about that before offering (and also has a bit of debt to.)

My other suggestion is to get all bills in woman's name including mortgage(and just to clarity not getting his name taken off, just out of her bank account) and get him to pay X amount to her so it's essentially a child maintenance payment but would work out more I would imagine.

I'm not sure about eq in house, I will find that out and update when I know.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

wow, don't think it's a good idea to put all bills in his wife's name, she could be left with a whole lot of trouble.

nannytone_2

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

wow, don't think it's a good idea to put all bills in his wife's name, she could be left with a whole lot of trouble.

if the wife is remaining in the marital home then it is best for all the bills ( except the mortgage) to be transferred into her name.
the DWP use data matching and if he is still financially linked to her through the household bills, then it can make it difficult for her to obtain benefits for herself and the children

[Deleted User]

Hi,

but if he defaults, then she is left with the liability.

nannytone_2

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

but if he defaults, then she is left with the liability.

defaults on what?
if she is living in the house, then the utility bills are hers, and should be in her name.
with the mortgage, she can't just remove his name from it so the liability would be exactly the same as if they were still together

Kayalana99

The calculator says she should be entitled to £160 (something) in job seekers this seems an awful lot does that sound right?

It says she will be -£30 a month worse off if she was working 16 hours but theirs something about part of the job seekers only getting paid for 6 months and she can't keep reaping long term job seekers benefits so I am guessing technically she would be £600 a month better off (although in reality she would be having the same coming in) as it will counter what she would of got with job seekers?

Thank you for the advice so far :-)

nannytone_2

is she in a universal credit area?
HSA is around £72 a week, but she would also get child tax credits for the children along with child benefit and council tax support.