Told my husband I want to seperate, what now

[Lrj19]

Ive just told my husband i want to seperate and omg the weight i was carrying around for so long has finally been lifted and i feel so much better. Im obviously sad but ive wanted this for ages and i finally plucked up the courage to do it, i feel so proud of myself. We have 2 young children and i need to be happy for them as i haven't been happy for ages. So my question is what now, can anyone help me as to what to do from here, other than sell the house and get my own place, what benefits/help am i entitled to, im on low income as only work 15 hours a week.

I believe you need to work 16 hours a week to qualify for tax credits but things may have changed since I went through a divorce. I would find a family law solicitor. Go on the government website and read up on child benefits, tax credits etc. Make sure you sort any joint debts out. Locate passports, birth certificates, vehicle log books etc in case things get ugly and your dh hides them all speaking from past experience open your own bank account if you don't already have one.

@cushioncovers

I believe you need to work 16 hours a week to qualify for tax credits but things may have changed since I went through a divorce. I would find a family law solicitor. Go on the government website and read up on child benefits, tax credits etc. Make sure you sort any joint debts out. Locate passports, birth certificates, vehicle log books etc in case things get ugly and your dh hides them all speaking from past experience open your own bank account if you don't already have one.

No -one can make a new claim for tax credits anymore and if op is currently claiming them she will need to switch to Universal credit. Op you can claim UC, but if you receive more than 16k in equity from the house sale then Universal credit would stop unless that money is going straight into buying another property. f you rent somewhere when you leave then UC will help with the rent. If your children are school aged you would be expected to look for work earning 25 x nmw per week ideally. Once living alone you can claim 25% single occupancy on your council tax. You should claim child maintenance which wont affect your benefits.

Thank you for your help, luckily we have no joint debts or bank account, agreed yo sell house and split equity so i can rent somewhere. I no nothing about benefits so going to go to citizens advice, but can i not claim income support as im on low income?

@Lrj19

Thank you for your help, luckily we have no joint debts or bank account, agreed yo sell house and split equity so i can rent somewhere. I no nothing about benefits so going to go to citizens advice, but can i not claim income support as im on low income?

No -one can make a new claim for Income support anymore, it has all been replaced by Universal credit. You will initially get help from UC with rental costs as long as efforts are being made to sell the house but if you get more than 16k in equity from the house sale, you will no longer qualify for Uc until that drops below 16k.

Ok thank you thats really helpful

Bumping

You can apply for universal credit now. my advice is to put the house on the market but don't rush to move out. Keep it amicable and get the process right. Get an interim financial agreement between yourselves. Depending on the ages of children you will be expected to increase hours to around 25 hours if 5-11 or full time after age 12 (assuming no sn).

We lived in the same house for 7 months, meant we could sort out financially what to do

@motogogo

You can apply for universal credit now. my advice is to put the house on the market but don't rush to move out. Keep it amicable and get the process right. Get an interim financial agreement between yourselves. Depending on the ages of children you will be expected to increase hours to around 25 hours if 5-11 or full time after age 12 (assuming no sn).

We lived in the same house for 7 months, meant we could sort out financially what to do

Op would have to make sure all finances were completely seperate and they were living absolute seperate lives under the same roof for this to work.