Planning my great escape

I just wanted to say hello and you seem to have plans in place which is good. I kicked my ex out in the summer and although it is lonely sometimes, I am getting my life back on track by myself and paying off my debts or I will be from January.

Regarding tax credits, I went for about 7-8 weeks without any tax credits when I swapped from a joint to single claim and that was hard. I had to borrow money from family just to pay rent and bills. So if you can, try and get a bit of a buffer ready just in case it takes a long time to get your tax credits sorted.

Mine when I phoned up to change, they said it would be 2-3 weeks without money and I couldn't give a forwarding address for my ex as he was just staying in hotels, with family or friends. Then they did a check on my tax credits and I had to send what felt like my entire life off to them, so copies of all bills, rent agreement, phone bills, council tax, TV licence, bank statements, nursery invoices. I was kind of lucky that everything was in my name anyway but it still took a while to process. I did speak to someone and explained and they were really helpful. Have you tried phoning tax credits and see what they say about him not moving out?

I do empathise, my situation was very similar. My ex stopped contributing to the household income 3 or 4 years ago. This combined with other reasons led to me seeking a separation towards the end of last year. It is difficult when living separately but under the same roof, which is what happened with me for 6 months prior to his moving out. I read a list somewhere online of things you could do to prove that you were living separately. These included not eating at the same times, not doing each other's laundry, not sharing a bed. I will try and find the other things. My ex eventually moved out but even now will not tell me where he lives. My council accepted this. I put all the utility bills from joint into my name, to try and show that we were separate. I also made sure that schools knew and the information was recorded on their information system, in other words doing all I could to prove that we were separated.

With regard to tax credits, I would take advice from them sooner rather than later. I left it too late as I was worried that I had no legal paperwork to show the separation was permanent. I should have told them when he moved out but was too cautious as I felt I couldn't prove permanence. This has meant that not only were my tax credits stopped for 6 weeks or so, I'm having to pay back the tax credits I received ( as a joint claim) between his moving out and the renewal. The irony being that I was entitled to the money as a single claimant or as a joint claimant. As a single claim, I receive a little more. I have learnt the hard way to tell them everything and tell them early.

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