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I need to claim benefits.

My husband and I have started divorce proceedings. At what point am I separated from him?

Um.. when you are no longer together

Together in the same house? Together legally?

I've been separated from XH since he moved out.

Hi there, I am not an expert but have recently separated from my H although we are still living under the same roof. I've contacted the benefits helplines (child tax credits and income support) and they've both told me that we are fine to be considered 'separated' and to be judged separately although we are still living together.

And... DSM what a wonderfully pointless post in answer to the OPs question..

This is also the difficult situation I am in. My H is still at home, having both of us agreed to tell the kids that he was planning to look for somewhere else to live after Xmas, which we did, he appears to have made no plans. It's very difficult to move forward. Can we be legally separated while living in same house? Any advice?

A legal separation will cost £340.

If you plan to divorce anyway, you'd be better off just getting on with that!

See here and here for more info.

More information and links on separation and divorce here.

Thank you for all that info. It is very useful and I will look throughout it. I should have said tho' that I am in Scotland. Do you have any information pertaining to the different laws here?

Take a look here and here.

I think the transparent fee structure at the Co-op Legal Services is great, and they do Scotland too.

The Co-op offer (as my firm does and I'd imagine most forms soon enough) a fixed fee divorce only packeage.

I can't see on their website that they offer a fixed fee package for sorting out the finances, so in that sense it's as transparent as everyone else's: i.e. dependent upon the type of case, the type of client, and the type of opponent.

The firm I'm using also offer a fixed-fee, but I agree with Collaborate in that from what I can tell, it's very much dependent on there being NOTHING outside of the ordinary, and in the event of any extra work incurred the fee goes up accordingly.

Just out of interest ChangeAfoot, how much are you paying for a fixed fee? Would be interested to see where I fit into the market place.

Standard fees can be given for standardised work.

you can live under the same roof and be considered separated as long as you are living separate lives - so do not buy communal food, don't do each other's washing or cooking etc, etc.

Just as soon as I find out Collaborate, I'll let you know! She said it's very new and when I met her, she was still waiting to find out what the published rates were. And I'm trying not to be impatient but despite meeting her last Wednesday, I'm yet to receive my letter of advice in the post.