Soon to be Ex changed address but we all still live in the house

dad1503

Recently separated from my wife and all of the family all still live in the house we rent. My daughter will soon be 16 and has just received her National Insurance Number via letter from HMRC. The letter from HMRC did not arrive through the post but was instead handed to my daughter by my wife. The address on the letter is my wife's parents address. Neither myself or my daughter have ever lived at the parents address and my wife has not lived there for at least 25 years. My wife and I share parental responsibility but seems my wife has changed our daughters address without my knowledge or consent and to an address where none of us actually live. Where do I stand on this and what are the potential implications? In addition, I know that my wife has changed her address to her parents address on the electoral register, Dr's surgery, HMRC etc yet still lives in the family home with no intention of moving out. 

This concerns me further in that my wife does not work but has recently started spending money on food (meals out), clothes, shoes, makeup, beauty appointments etc which has not debited our "joint" account and so my concern is the address change is to enable her to claim Housing Benefit, Job Seekers Allowance or Unemployment Benefit for herself and my daughter whilst still living in the family home (excuse my ignorance but I do not know how he system works). My wife does not contribute anything financial towards bills, housing, children. Again what are the implications towards me, is it possible she could be making fraudulent claim for benefits where i become liable?

Difficult to speak to my wife about any of this as the marriage breakdown is a difficult one and communication virtually non existent.        

FlorayG

I don't know the answer to these questions but I would also add - who pays the rent? Are you joint tenants? If so then the LL must have you both at the same address?
Is your separation legal or just mutually agreed? I would have thought if it was legally made then you are no longer responsible for anything she does

tacpot12

I can't see there are any potential implications for you of your daughter's NI letter coming to your wife's parents house, but you should talk to your daughter and ask her if she wants to leave this address on the HMRC system, or change it to your address. I would expect there is a phone number on theletter where she can call to ask for it to be changed. 

There is no chance that you will be help liable if your wife/ex-wife claims benefits that she is not entitled to. 

Your wife may just have changed the address with her other contacts in case she wants to move back to her parents, or to ensure that you don't interfer with any of her mail. Don't worry about it, just focus on separating as best you can.

I would recommend that you try to have a conversation with your wife about the idea of closing the joint account and you splitting the money that is in there equally. It's just another complication you don't need. Get your own account, and only keep the joint account if it is useful for direct debits relating to the house. 

sheramber

Who claims the child benefit and at what address?

That is the address that will be used to send out the NIC number.

thegreenone

Are her parents aware that their address is being used, possibly, fraudulently?

dad1503

FlorayG said:

I don't know the answer to these questions but I would also add - who pays the rent? Are you joint tenants? If so then the LL must have you both at the same address?
Is your separation legal or just mutually agreed? I would have thought if it was legally made then you are no longer responsible for anything she does

We are joint tenants but I pay the rent and every other bill too. The separation is mutually agreed at this point but the divorce is in progress.   

dad1503

sheramber said:

Who claims the child benefit and at what address?

That is the address that will be used to send out the NIC number.

My earnings exceed the threshold for claiming Child Benefit and so were previously unable to make a claim. However, my wife recently started claiming Child Benefit (I only know this as the first payment went into the joint account). so I guess she changed hers and my daughters address in order to be able to make a claim even though we do not live at the parents address.  

dad1503

thegreenone said:

Are her parents aware that their address is being used, possibly, fraudulently?

I cannot answer this question categorically, but given that post addressed to my wife and daughter is arriving at the parents address there should be some awareness I would have assumed.  

dad1503

tacpot12 said:

I can't see there are any potential implications for you of your daughter's NI letter coming to your wife's parents house, but you should talk to your daughter and ask her if she wants to leave this address on the HMRC system, or change it to your address. I would expect there is a phone number on theletter where she can call to ask for it to be changed. 

There is no chance that you will be help liable if your wife/ex-wife claims benefits that she is not entitled to. 

Your wife may just have changed the address with her other contacts in case she wants to move back to her parents, or to ensure that you don't interfer with any of her mail. Don't worry about it, just focus on separating as best you can.

I would recommend that you try to have a conversation with your wife about the idea of closing the joint account and you splitting the money that is in there equally. It's just another complication you don't need. Get your own account, and only keep the joint account if it is useful for direct debits relating to the house. 

I guess the concern here is that my wife is making changes to my daughters personal details without my knowledge, consent or even any discussion and I wonder if she has changed address with any other places such as dentist, school, Dr's surgery...

I did speak with my daughter and she was confused as to why the letter went to the parents address (clearly my wife has not discussed this with my daughter either). I could offer no explanation but, I will try to ask my wife to explain the reasons to my daughter.  

I have just instructed the company I work for to change my salary payments to my personal account and will fund the joint account for the purposes of rent and bills etc. 

RAS

Wen does your tenancy agreement end or is it a rolling tenancy?

dad1503

RAS said:

Wen does your tenancy agreement end or is it a rolling tenancy?

The tenancy agreement is rolling