thinking of leaving partner.

spaniels_rule · 22 January 2016 at 11:03PM

Hi,

I'm thinking of leaving my partner we are not married, I have a 4 year old son, who will start school in September.

We are renting privately, and are both on the tenacy agreement. though he pays the rent, and all the bills,

we have a joint bank account.

How to go about financial advice, and actually leaving with my son.

Thanks For Any Help

clearingout · 23 January 2016 at 12:16PM

Is there anything at all that can be done to save your relationship? Are the issues too big to overcome with some hard talking, possibly with the support of a counsellor?

Assuming leaving is your only option, you need to look at what you may be entiteld to benefit wise - you can do that on turn2us.org.uk

I am unsure of the logistics with renting when you are already on a tenancy agreement but I would assume you simply find yourself somewhere new to live and apply for any benefits you may be entitled to. I would get this all sorted prior to leaving, unless you have family you can stay with in the meantime?

You would be entitled to maintenance from your partner for your child, assuming you don't agree a shared care arrangement. As your son is currently 4, you would be entiteld to Income Support and won't have to look for work until your son is 5 (assuming you are not already working).

I hope all goes well for you. Take of yourself x

HappyMJ · 23 January 2016 at 12:32PM

Even though he pays the rent you will also be liable for the rent on the property you are leaving until you can get your name off the tenancy agreement. You can terminate the tenancy for both of you by handing in notice and leaving on or before the last day of the tenancy which will minimize your liability. You will both then need to leave and find a new place to live. If you can secure the tenancy using your income with just your name on it you may be able to stay on or he might wish to stay on in the property on a new tenancy agreement without your name on it.

TBagpuss · 26 January 2016 at 9:50PM

Is it just your son, or the child of you both? Is your partner likely to agree to his living with you?
What is the reason for wanting to end the relationship?
Ideally, rather than simply walking out, you should try to talk to your partner, and aim to agree about how to deal with things.
For instance, while it is correct that you can generally end a joint tenancy by one tenant giving notice, it's a pretty aggressive way of leaving - it would be far better to be able to agree with your partner to give notice and both move out, or to see whether the landlord would consent to putting the tenancy into your partner's sole name. (also less risky - if you give notice, or simply leave, your partner could run up rent arrears, or fail to move out and mean that legal costs were incurred for an eviction, and you would be jointly liable for those.)

If you do separate and your son lives mainly with you then you would be entitled to child support from his dad.

You and he would need to agree about how you would share care for him, and again, managing that is likely to be much easier (and more positive for your son) if the two of you can cooperate.

Obviously if there are any issues around domestic abuse then it may not be practical for you to do anything but just leave, but if that isn't the case, try talking first.

thinking of leaving partner.

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