To think she's being a right CF?

[itchybumhole]

A bit of background first, and I'll try my best to give all the relevant information, but as I don't know much about the workings of the system I'm unsure what I need to include.

My partner split with his wife 3 years ago after 13 years together and 7 years of marriage. They have an 11 year old child together. Their marriage ended very acrimoniously after a series of infidelities on her part.
When they separated he immediately moved out of the family home with just his personal belongings and stayed with his parents until he could find a rental place. Since leaving he has paid her child maintenance by private agreement on a weekly basis.

She has today received a letter from HRMC saying she needs to repay tens of thousands of pounds in overpaid tax credits. The tax credits were paid to her during the time that he had left the family home. (He's always worked full time. When he left she went on to benefits. She hasn't worked in 13 years apparently).
The notice says that if she claimed as a couple then both parties must repay, so she called him today and said he's liable for half. His answer was... but how can I be? I have receipts for rent paid to my own house. I didn't benefit from this overpayment so why should I pay half back?
We're both so confused. What does he do now? I've told him to call HRMC but he's still smarting from the phone call from his ex wife. We're these benefits claimed fraudulently? And is he liable to repay half as she insists?
Thank you for any help or advice.

I know everyones going on about the dp being a cf about the loan. Yes he should have told her about it but legally he did nothing wrong.

He was still paying his share of mortgage. Still in his name, nothing wrong.

Smurf

She was arrested for attacking HIM, as I quite clearly stated. Why does their child need to pay the price for her parents mistakes?

Handy how frequently the juicy updates about the "headcase" benefit fraudster keep rolling in.

When I ask him about the loan and why he applied for it using her address he can't seem to give a straight answer.

Handy too how the dramatic sob story about his nasty ex wife and hurtling relationship speed both result in the blatant lies being overlooked.

There are plenty of good men around - I've been lucky enough to have some of them in my life - but the good ones don't act like that. And actually, good men don't feel threatened by people discussing the existence of vile ones.

You sure do have a lot of contempt for other women, op.

She has been caught with her sticky fingers in the honey pot. And he is getting the blame because of his failed attempt to get a personal loan from the address he had lived at for years and paid the mortgage for.

Essentially she has been stealing from us tax payers and is blaming him that she has been caught.

I hope she gets everything she has coming.

anouk there are plenty of awful women around too..

But he is offering to give her evidence he moved out. What more can he do? The loan mayy have been a trigger, but for all we know HMRC found financial traces of her current partner too (and as he lived there for 2 years, that is not impossible). As long as he gives her a statement he moved out on x date, unsuccessfully applied for a loan against his old address at a later date, and backs up the fact he was living elsewhere (rent paid to parents/ statement from parents’ neighbours) she can send that to HMRC. He is certainly not responsible for when the new partner moved in.

And where was the child when she was attacking him?

I think you’re missing the point that it’s CHILD tax credit she’s getting investigated for. It’s money for the child. Your dps child. The money she will have to pay back will come out of his CHILDS mouth.

He needs to do the right thing and confess he tried to defraud a loan company.

Smurf how on earth is he defrauding a loan company? Applying for an unsecured loan is not illegal. Using an address of the house you own is not illegal. Where is the fraud?

If he had applied for the loan in the past couple of months, fraud.
Applied shortly after moving out, when he was still heavily involved in the property, is that really fraud?

What's he going to do contact the creditors and say -
In 2015 my marriage had broken down and I moved temporarily into my parent's house. I needed a car to get me around and I applied for finance using the marital home as the address. At the time I owned the property and was there a lot. But I have since been advised that I shouldn't have done this, so I am confessing for committing an offence to which at the time I didn't realise was an offence.

smurf the only person responsible for taking money away from her child is her

Ok. How about he applied for the loan 3 months after he left. He pays the ex-extra to cover those 3 months. That's being generous because he made the loan application.
After that, she's on her own. Even though he doesn't actually owe anything, but to keep the outraged happy.

He would have acted fraudulently if by using this address the loan company would be more likely to give him a loan or would give him a bigger loan than by using his parents address. It was his marital home up to very recently when he applied for the loan, it was a time of trying to make amends, he owned it. Quite frankly, the loan company probably got more credit history out of that address for him than from his parents address. In any case they declined the loan. No fraud was committed. And before smurf has another go: he didn’t use the address foreseeing that 3 years later it might trigger an HMRC investigation. On a clearly fraudulent claim (not for that first year, but for the 2 subsequent ones) by his ex.

The money she will have to pay back will come out of his CHILDS mouth.
Money which she has probably defrauded from the tax payer and spent on herself. And it will fall on the fathers shoulders (& OPs) alone to pick up the pieces of looking after DC, if the feckless mother goes to jail, bankrupt or homeless.

@cochineal7 would it really have been fraud though ? At that point, (from what i can gather from OP's posts) DP still owned the home and was still paying mortgage to it. He was still legally tied to the house. Why shouldn't he have applied for the loan ? Morally he should told ex but thats it.

Good luck getting any useful information from the tax credit office. They are a bunch of incompetents.

He is contrite that his actions have caused her to be investigated, but his concern is purely for his daughter now. They pretty much share custody, he pays maintenance and would pay his share of the debt if he was liable.
But where would it end? You can't be around to pick up the pieces every time the shit hits the fan in their lives. They are not a couple now, and the benefit was claimed fraudulently. she's livid that his actions have brought this all about. I feel quite sorry for him tonight... he doesn't know what to do for the best.

actually cringing at Smurf's inappropriate misplaced rants against the OP - projection much? Never have I come across someone who blatantly re-writes what an OP says happened to continue with an unjustified attack.

Instead of making up a whole different scenario to fit your 'agenda', actually read what the OP wrote and don't twist it. This isn't a 'bad' man. And he was perfectly justified applying for a loan ON HIS HOUSE. No matter he was a few weeks living at his parents - it was a jointly owned home and of course it's legal he could apply for a loan on it.

If I were him, I'd do what I could to help her to prove she was single for that first year. Then, if there's any way of him doing so, pony up to help her with the £5k bill for the (hopefully) 18 months they'll go after her for. Until a few years ago they didn't used to prosecute for anything under around £20k unless there were aggravating factors but they do now, and she and the child will be in a right old mess if that happens, which will ultimately impact on him. If she can pay a chunk or better all of it off sharpish, that will help. But I repeat if there is that period of extended fraud, the very best thing he can do is tell her to see a criminal solicitor.

I don't know that rights or wrongs come into it as surely it's better for everyone including you if she doesn't end up with a criminal record or, worse, a custodial sentence.

What I will say about the moral aspect of it though is that it's easy to criticise but as your dp has shown today life is often messy and doesn't fit in strictly with benefits rules. Very often a new partner will move in on the basis that he doesn't give full financial support for children or other household expenses until the relationship is established, and people can't live on thin air. Women raising children with the father out of the home are for this reason vulnerable to ending up in the situation this woman may be in, just because their lives don't fit with exactly what it says on a form.

purplepinkpurple no it’s not fraud. That was my point. The only fraud is hers.

And itchy: HMRC clearly knows about the loan, but nobody knows if that was the actual or only trigger for their investigation. The new partner may have left many more traces. Someone may have reported her. You just don’t know.

I would, in his shoes, write a letter declaring the date he moved out and attaching some proof therof. Sign it, give it to her, she is then free to use it if it helps her. That should get 1 of the 3 years sorted for her.

I would not for one second pay towards helping her wriggle out of the second two years’ worth of fraud.

"He's only speculating here, but it looks like HRMC are asking for the tax credits back from the moment my DP moved out."

That doesn't make sense.

His ExW was not claiming tax credits until your DP moved out, because (as you previously said) when he was living there she wasn't entitled to tax credits, as her H (your DP) was earning too much.

However, when he moved out she was entitled to claim tax credits and, until her current partner moved in, there is no reason why she would be asked to repay them.

So where is the fraud (that is associated with the timespan of your DP moving out)?

He doesn’t know what to do for the best?!

Leave her to it and carry on as he is. He’s not committed fraud. Would she pay it back for him if he’d knowingly claimed benefits he wasn’t entitled to then got caught and made to pay back thousands?! I very much doubt it!

and she and the child will be in a right old mess if that happens, which will ultimately impact on him.

Seriously? So at what point does she take responsibility for her actions without trying to get a man to bail her out? Using her child as collateral? It is NOT the ex-partner's responsibility to bail her out - where would it end? 20 years down the line she's got money problems 'but the daughter could be in a right old mess??' I wonder what your response if the genders were reversed?

Disgusting that men are seen as a meal ticket - he pays maintenance and provides for his child. No way should he pay for his ex-wife ad infinity. Mad.

ADishBestEatenCold she was not committing fraud in the first year, nobody says that. If he gives her the statement/evidence he wasn’t living there, she can use it. However, the single claim when new partner moved in is fraudulent.

I'd send the information off to prove what date he moved out of the family home and then leave the ex to sort it out. She's the one who has committed fraud not the op's partner. She'd have know what she was doing was wrong, we have claimed tax credits in the past and they write to you to confirm your information is correct. It clearly states on every letter that if you fail to inform them of a change in circumstances immediately you could be overpaid and will be liable for paying it back. She knew what she was up to.

I'm just glad she was caught out, we pay a lot of taxes for people to play the system like this.