Hi all, I wonder if anybody has some pearls of wisdom to help me help my poor old mum out.
The back story is as follows - mum and dad married about 50 years ago. They bought a house 45 years ago. Dads name only on the deeds - I think this was normal practice then as dad was the earner and mum was SAHM. Dad left mum 30 years ago and she stayed in the family home with us kids. He gave her a tiny amount of money each week and basically we lived in squalor until we left home. My mum has continued to live in this house which Is in an extremely poor state of repair and I think now uninhabitable. Mum now gets state pension which is topped up with pension credit (because she didn't pay national insurance?) so is unable and never has been in a position to make any repairs. Dad, despite his promises over the years, has done nothing to upgrade the house.
Mum is becoming increasingly frail now and after much persuasion over several years she has finally agreed to move to sheltered housing. We duly arranged this and she has now been offered a little house in an ideal location for her. she's finally, for the first time in 30 years, feeling pretty positive about her future. we applied for housing benefit and were under the impression this would be straight forward as she has no capital. Today I was told that this may not be so straight forward as despite not having her name on the deeds of her house, it would still be considered a marital asset. Mum now has decided she wants to stay where she is as she doesn't want to challenge my dad. They have a very odd relationship. You could say she's been doing the 'pick me' dance since he left. He is a very domineering and forceful character. She continually tries to please him and won't ever stand up to him. When we have tried to fight her corner she has shot us down, basically leaving us helpless. He says he won't agree to sell the house (and continues to promise to make repairs). Equally, she isn't going to challenge him for what is rightfully hers in way of marital assets. That said, I'm doubtful there will be any marital assets given the very poor state of repair (the house is semi detached and the neighbours house is now being affected by dampness etc and there have been mutterings about legal action from them). I genuinely think they would struggle to give the house away far less making any profit on it.
We haven't actually had a refusal from council regarding housing benefit so far, but I anticipate problems. They say they will write in due course :-/
Does anybody have any similar experience of housing benefit being refused due to a supposed marital asset? Im just wondering what our options will be if they refuse. I have no experience of benefits system at all so feeling a bit lost. We live in Scotland which I know may make a difference re law etc.
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Maybe refused housing benefit due to supposed marital asset/albatross
3 replies
Thecontinualgardener · 17/05/2016 23:06
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