student finance application when in the throes of divorce - any advice

[LegoCity2021]

H and I are estranged but still living in the marital home whilst our divorce creeps along at a snails pace due to him taking every opportunity to delay proceedings and the courts having a back-log.

H decided to opt out of the world of work following a covid related redundancy and I cannot see that he intends to work again in the forseeable future. Our assets are such that he could live on savings until retirement if he gets a large enough share of them.

Can I therefore fill in the financial info section in support of DC's student finance application as if I am a single parent, even though we are still in the same house and still married (court delays mean no decree nisi yet even though it has been 8 months since petition was filed) because he won't move out ?

DC has rightly put just me down as a parent who will be supporting him so I've put my 2021 information in but worry that studentfinance will want H's info too, even though he has had no earnings now for over a year and has no intention of supporting DC at Uni from his share of our assets.

On a more mundane note, the application asks for my gross salary and then asks for pension contributions which it deducts from gross salary. Should I be including the gross amount of the pension contributions (as I do on my tax return) or the amount net of tax ?

Are your pension payments deducted from your salary by your employer before tax or do you pay into a private pension separetely?

Student finance is assessed as household income so you need to include your husband if he’s living in the house. That said, if your divorce is likely to be completed in the year you can complete a variance form which would let them just consider your earning.

@Comefromaway

I pay into a private pension separately.

@JusticeForWanda

If H isn't earning anything could I possibly class him as a dependent ?

I’m not clear why you’d need to? If he isn’t earning he just goes on the form as no income, your household income is then your wages plus 0 from him and maintenance is worked out on that basis?

But no you can’t class your husband as a dependant.

Assuming his income from the relevant tax year and the lack of earnings now means that your total household income has dropped by at least 15%, what he needs to do is complete the finance assessment for that year, then you both submit an assessment of your earnings for this year so that your DS can be awarded the correct amount of loan. If he fails to complete it, there's the risk of your DS only being awarded the minimum. The current earnings for your STBXH will be quite straightforward to complete if he has none, and yours will be an estimate of your likely earnings for the current tax year. You'll both have to confirm this when prompted around the same time next year.

I had to send off decree absolute and single occupancy council tax as proof on first application. Each year since then I’ve just filled in incline amounts but first year involved sending off evidence

If you put you are single you will be asked for proof, so decree nisi, benefits award letter or letter from GP saying you are separated. As he is still living in the household I'm afraid he is included, but as he isn't earning only your salary will be taken into account.

However, it's the student applicant for the loan who has to alert sfe to the existence of their other resident parent and provide their contact details, as each 'supporter' has to set up their own account.

(Unless there is a whistle-blowers contact number, of course?).

While this is technically correct it would count as fraud. SFE have huge teams working to prevent fraud doing all sorts of cross checks. Having worked with a couple of students who’ve tried to do similar things and ended up in a real bother. It’s honestly not worth the risk. Particularly in your case since he’s 0 income and therefore will no impact the amount your son gets.

Your ex shares a space with you but is he part of your household? Those are two different things. Eg you could have 3 lodgers but none of their income would count as they are not your household. If you are separated, he is not in your household.
Do yourself a favour, spend approximately £15 and go to a solicitor. Write a short declaration (you can google exact wording) that you declare you are separated from your ex. Submit that to student finance. Job done.
That's all you need to do. They accept that in place of decree nisi, which you will have soon anyway.

I forgot ... you are googling 'signed affidavit' or 'statutory declaration'. There will be some poor solicitor tasked with signing these off for about £15. Or maybe your own solicitor will write a letter of confirmation ... bet that would cost £££ though

'commisioner of oaths' is the phrase for the solicitor eho can witness your form .... it's all coming back to me now 😃.... it may be that you can find a court near you that does it for free or cheaper than £15. I paid £15.