Hello all,
I am at the very start of the divorce process. Husband and I have been married 15 years, have 2 young children. I left full time work when first child born. I now work part time and care for children 100% (minus the school and nursery hours, which I scrape to pay for) as husband works long hours (and isn't really interested tbh). We have an incredibly complicated financial situation. We have separate bank accounts, but the mortgage and most of the utilities come out of my account. My salary doesn't come anywhere near covering all these, so I have to constantly beg for him to transfer money to my account. I often only have access to a few pounds in my account, if any at all. He has racked up thousands of pounds of debt in my name in his personal spending. For this reason alone, I've been terrified of leaving, because I cannot live on my own with two small children with SO much money owed in my name. He only gives me just enough to survive, and never enough to leave.
I'm embarrassed I let this go on so long, but finally decided enough is enough. I've been told I can get Universal Credit, but I'm not sure how and when I'll be eligible, as Husband still lives in our house (house is owned by his company) and I'm afraid he will hide all his income and assets in other business accounts as soon as he finds out I plan to leave.
How do other women (especially SAHM or low income/part time mums) deal with finances and housing at the start (and middle and end!) of this process? I'm very scared we will be homeless with very little to live on and lots of bills needing to be paid, afraid of losing my job because i can't pay for childcare, etc. I have no family to help, and no friends with extra space for the 3 of us to live. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!