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Legal matters

Can anyone point me in the right direction please? Children matters

10 replies

itsnotpossibleisit · 17/07/2011 09:04

I have recently separated from my ExP (almost 3 months ago). We have a DD together and I have moved out of the house we both bought. I am entitle to some money from the property but he strongly believes that moreally I do not deserve anything because I have never paid towards the mortgage even though I have paid for bills and food before I gave up my job to look after DD (we both agreed at the time that it was the best option). So I am guessing we will have to go to court to sort this out.

Now I find myself in a situation where I have been denied Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit because I do not have the right to reside (HB reg 10 and CT reg 7) as I am classed as a Person from Abroad. I am from Spain. Though I am getting JSA contribution base.

I cannot go back to Spain because ExP has parental responsability and I will find myself and DD homeless in the next two months because after this period I won't be able to pay the rent anymore.

Talking with ExP is very difficult and to be able to go back to Spain I need his consent which he will not give me. It seems that asking sole parental responsability it's not an option. Someone has mention to me to ask "leave to move abroad". Can anyone point me in the right direction of what I can do? I have appealed the desicion of dening Housing Benefit and Council Tax but I am not sure when I will know the outcome. If the outcome still is that I am not entitle to those benefits I need to have plan B ready before we become homeless. I do not have familiy in England so if we find ourselves in the situation that we need to live the house we rent we do not have anywhere else to go.

I do not want to lose DD. ExP and I were never married which makes things a bit more difficult as he does not have to pay maintenance for me. I am desperate to know which options I have so please let me know your ideas/options.

Thank you very much

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Kladdkaka · 17/07/2011 10:59

OMG, I blooming hate it when this type of rubbish happens. You are Spanish and therefore EU citizen right? As an EU citizen you have DO have the right to reside. Furthermore, if you have lived continuously in the UK for more than 5 years you automatically acquire the right of permanent residence.

I've moved to another EU country and have faced this same nonsense and had to fight for every single thing.

You can actually contact the European Commission youself, tell them you circumstances and ask them whether the council are allowed to refuse you housing and council tax benefit. They'll reply to you very quickly, giving full details of the EU laws that apply and telling you your rights and what the council should be doing. Take this into the council offices and slap them upside the head with it (not really).

The EU Commission online citizen's questions service is here:
ec.europa.eu/citizensrights/front_end/index_en.htm

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babybarrister · 17/07/2011 12:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Savoir · 17/07/2011 17:52

www.marilynstowe.co.uk/2011/04/15/external-relocation-when-a-parent-wishes-to-move-overseas-with-a-child-what-rules-apply-by-guest-blogger-laura-guillon/

From what I can gather, permission to move overseas with your child is granted in a lot of cases - so good luck!

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cantfindamnnickname · 17/07/2011 18:31

Is the property jointly owned? If yes then you are entitled to half.

Can you move back in?

Can you get an occupation order to force him to allow you back in? Can you apply for one anyway and let the Court order you out - then you would be homeless and therefore the Council would have to house you?

You can issue an application at Court for a specific issue order - ask the Court to decide whether it is in your dd's best interest to move back to Spain.

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itsnotpossibleisit · 17/07/2011 21:24

Kladdkaka: thanks for your comment, I will look into it very soon. I have reside in the UK for almost 8 years but for what I have read and researched you need to have worked for 5 years to be entitle to the benefits, I am down a few months, to past the right to reside test. The legislation changed in 2006 and there is where I have the problem. Even though I have appealed their desicion I don't think it will change anything. It comes from the EU to stop people taking advantage of countrys like UK where social benefits are pretty good. However for what I have read UK have not taken all the advice from the EU regarding benefits and entitlement.

Savoir: tanks for the link. I am reading it very carefully at the moment and hopefully I will be able to find something that I can use and help to decide what to do. At least if I go back to Spain I can find a job easily with my english degree and language skills while in here it seems impossible at the moment. I have been looking for 5 months already and after filling plenty of application forms I do not seem to be lucky enough. Als I would get the support of my family which I do not have it in here and I could move to live with them for the time being which is a plus.

Cantfindamnnickname: returning to that house is completely impossible. I would not be allowed by ExP. And to be honest I don't think it would be good for DD either. He already said when I told him that we were separating that he wouldn't move out because he would become homeless, even though his parent live a few miles away from him, and that he didn'y fancy moving back with his parents at all. Lucky him that he can choose.

Does anyone know if I can change solicitors once I have started using one for the separation matters? I don't think my solicitor is advicing me at all. I know she is not doing it and I don't think the service I am getting is worth it for what the tax payers are paying with legal aid either.

Thank you for your comment and support

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cestlavielife · 17/07/2011 21:59

you can force him to buy you out/sell house with TLATA (trusts of lands act) also childrens act (assuming you arent married) - it takes a while - you need ot ask solciitor and present papers who owns what in house tenants in common or joint tenants etc

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Kladdkaka · 17/07/2011 22:01

Absolutely check about your benefits with the EU Commission directly. I know without a doubt that you automatically get permanent residence after 5 years and I'm pretty certain that means you have the same rights as the natives. But best get them to confirm it.

They also have another arm called Solvit whose job it is to make sure that public authorities are applying EU law properly. They stepped in for me here in Sweden and kicked ass when I couldn't access to the benefits I was entitled to. I'd contact them too as they will have mountains of experience in this kind of stuff. They have offices in every EU state:
ec.europa.eu/solvit/

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Kladdkaka · 17/07/2011 22:02

I forgot, both services provided by the EU Commission are free to use.

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Kladdkaka · 17/07/2011 22:21

Lots of information on rights to Housing Benefit on the Chartered Institute of Housing website here:

www.housing-rights.info/

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itsnotpossibleisit · 17/07/2011 22:24

Thank you very much. Just got a very abussive txt from ExP Angry. I know that not all english men are like him but I won't take another english man in my life again. Sorry Blush

I just can't believe how I have not seen all the psicological abuse I have had to cope with when I was living with him and I still get it. When will he respect me as the mother of his child? Probably never.

I am trying to do as much research as possible to find a solucion to the problem.

Cestlavielife: he hs received a letter from my solicitor where I had asked him to pay me my part of the property. I have not had an answer about that he just told me that the visiting right where completely unclear and has asked me in the abusive txt to send him my email address so he can write to me asking me the question he needs to be clarified, never mention the financial side of the letter. I have told him that he can also contact my solicitor who will explain him anything about the letter.

Kladdkaka: I am going to do something with the info you have given me tonight. Thank you very much

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