Should ex-husband stop paying?

vicker

Hi all

Asking for a friend.

She's getting a divorce. No kids. She's disabled and unable to work. They own a house with a mortgage. Ex is being honourable and has been paying £1000pm for all the bills, including her living costs & their mortgage, since he left Sept 2017. He is her only source of income.

She applied for universal credit and had an online account set up. She couldn't find anything on the website saying she'd been successful or not. She was informed via some method that she had too much income to qualify for UC. She was going to keep ex paying her living costs until house sold, but she's now had an email saying they've closed her UC account as she's not had any payments but can reopen it if her circumstances change within the next 6 months.

Making the UC application happen took her weeks & left her unable to do much else. The thought of starting it all again in 6 months if the house sale hasn't happened is really not an option. So should she

1) ask ex to move the DD mortgage payment to his own account so her income drops to £350...my understanding is that she's still named on the mortgage, so that's ok from a ownership perspective. Is she likely to get UC if her goes that low?

OR

2) ask ex to stop paying her altogether so full UC entitlement kicks in?

OR

3) Do something different she hasn't thought of?

Part of her disability makes her unable to process information, so struggles with phone calls. I think the last time she tried to contact them, no-one gave her a straight answer anyway.

So I suggested you lovely people may have the answer for her best way forward. What do you think?

tomtom256

So her ex is happy to pay for her upkeep, but you expect the state to instead?

Alice_Holt

No, he shouldn't stop paying.

Has she applied for PIP?

ilovechristmas1

how does she manage things day to day,self care,shopping

sounds like Pip may be worth applying for

ilovechristmas1

she would be better and more secure if the husband paid the mortgage and your friend apply for full UC
at some point he will not be as generous and she needs to put her own financial means in order
if they sell will there be much equity

vicker

Pip applied for. She was rejected. She's currently applying for a reconsideration.They got basic facts wrong like being accompanied to the interview by someone. She's still awaiting the outcome of that.


Just to clarify, she isn't clear if she even qualified for UC or how much they'd pay her if ex wasn't paying income. But she certainly did the application back in October (as I had to read it through).

The reason ex is still paying as she doesn't want the state to pay for her while he still is and they're still legally married. However, the unsure timescale of the house sale means she is now extremely anxious that she may have to become a hermit for 2 months again and make her health take a backward step again while she puts herself through the UC application process again. Her mental health is fragile as well as her physical health and this email has thrown her. She wants to know what options she has that mean she is less likely to have to make herself more ill.

ilovechristmas1

ok , well she has 2 choices

1,she lets the husband support her and carry on as she has (please tell her that he will not do this forever and really needs her independence and security)

2,she lets him pay the mortgage till house sale happens but also applys for UC in her own right,maybe see if cab/ welfare group will help her apply and support her

vicker

ilovechristmas1 wrote: »

ok , well she has 2 choices

1,she lets the husband support her and carry on as she has (please tell her that he will not do this forever and really needs her independence and security)

2,she lets him pay the mortgage till house sale happens but also applys for UC in her own right,maybe see if cab/ welfare group will help her apply and support her

Sorry if I've not been clear. She applied for UC 3 months ago but hasn't been paid anything by them as her income is too high. She had an open UC account until today.

The welfare group who helped her apply were fab, but just getting and making an appointment with them took 3 weeks due to their availability and her disability.

Divorce will happen after the house sale. She just can't cope with 2 major legal processes happening at the same time. Both her and ex agree his payments will stop after house is sold.

ilovechristmas1

but where does her income come from?

ilovechristmas1

if you mean her ex husband is giving her money and declaring it then No she wont be entitled she will be treated as being in a couple

but they have split and dont live together so if the ex just paid the mortgage and gave her no extra money she would be entitled to claim UC in her own right as they are NOT a "couple"

tomtom256

Its called spousal maintenance and is treated as income for UC purposes or so I believe.