niece living with me

embob74

Thank you all for your helpful answers. I will follow up with the info as soon as the BH weekend is over.

HOWMUCH wrote: »

Are her parents still claiming child allowance and child tax credit for her?

I believe they are although to be fair it is only recently that niece was thrown out. I have been told that I should ask the parents for financial assistance but I'm a bit loathe to as they have indicated they want niece back with them despite throwing her out and bagging up all her stuff for us to collect a week later :mad:
Niece wants to stay with us and we're happy to provide what she needs but we just weren't prepared for the additional cost of accessing education

pmlindyloo

embob74 wrote: »

Thank you all for your helpful answers. I will follow up with the info as soon as the BH weekend is over.


I believe they are although to be fair it is only recently that niece was thrown out. I have been told that I should ask the parents for financial assistance but I'm a bit loathe to as they have indicated they want niece back with them despite throwing her out and bagging up all her stuff for us to collect a week later :mad:
Niece wants to stay with us and we're happy to provide what she needs but we just weren't prepared for the additional cost of accessing education

A difficult one, perhaps more of a family/relationship problem.

Obviously you want to help your niece but perhaps there is more to this than is apparent at first.

For instance, why was she thrown out? I know that 16 year olds can be very difficult and if her behaviour was the reason (and I am not condoning throwing her out but do understand the sentiment behind it(!) if her mum had reached breaking point) then perhaps this ought to be tackled as a family problem which needs to be sorted first and foremost.

I understand your concern for your niece but you do have your own family to consider as well as the impact on your finances.

if it were a case of giving them all some breathing space then you should expect the parents to make a financial contribution to her keep.

This obviously needs to be sorted out very quickly because of the college problem. It may be that your niece will find travelling back and forth and being so far from her friends a problem in itself. Have you discussed everything with her?

Sorry I can't help more but without knowing all the details it is difficult.

I would work on the assumption that you won't get any financial help from the benefit system in the form of income support and address her family situation.

Of course as a 16 year old she can leave home without her parent's permission and if she is adamant about this then you are going to have to claim the child tax credits and child benefit for her and she can get a weekend job to help with travelling costs.

Good luck with it all.

TELLIT01

Estrangement is all about the breakdown of the relationship between the parties. If the parents want her to go back home it will weaken your niece's case considerably but won't destroy it. If she is adamant that the relationship is beyond the point of no return it will be taken into consideration.
However, if DWP considers that she can return home, but is refusing to do so, it is unlikely that estrangement will be accepted.

missbiggles1

If her parents want her to go home (and assuming there's no question of abuse), I'd encourage her to do so for everybody's sake. I doubt you'd want anybody comng between you and your children, however well meaning their intentions.

TELLIT01

The OP is in a difficult situation. If her niece says she doesn't want to return home, or won't return home, what is the OP to do - kick her out?

missbiggles1

TELLIT01 wrote: »

The OP is in a difficult situation. If her niece says she doesn't want to return home, or won't return home, what is the OP to do - kick her out?

Returning her to her own home is hardly the same as kicking her out.

TELLIT01

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Returning her to her own home is hardly the same as kicking her out.

I said - if the niece won't return home, what is the OP to do? She can hardly drag her kicking and screaming back to her parents can she. Her niece obviously trusts the OP which I why I say she is in a difficult position as the niece could see it as a betrayal.

missbiggles1

TELLIT01 wrote: »

I said - if the niece won't return home, what is the OP to do? She can hardly drag her kicking and screaming back to her parents can she. Her niece obviously trusts the OP which I why I say she is in a difficult position as the niece could see it as a betrayal.

I would assume that her parents would come and collect her.

The daughter is a 16 year old child whose parents want her back at home, the OP and her OH are already supporting 4 children on a low income, the niece can't go ahead with her career plans if she remains where she is.

The solution is obvious to me.

Icequeen99

You can claim child benefit and child tax credit as long as she is in full time non-advanced education.

You just need to be responsible for the child - which means they are normally living with you - you don't need to have 'parental responsibility' which is a different thing altogether.

IQ