might be a lone parent soon, any advice please?

[TimeForABrew]

hi there,
my h might be going to jail in 3 weeks time, any advice / suggestions for me? 99.9% certain payment protection on mortgage won't pay out for this, so currently thinking of filing for bankruptcy so i can get rid of the house quickly (thought of repossession but apparently i'd still have to pay mortgage until it was sold!). H has sorted stuff into boxes & emptied loft to make it easier to move. No family in the area apart from PIL who don't know about it yet & who are getting on abit & FIL losing eyesight, & not sure if friends will hang around if he's found guilty, so was thinking of moving closer to family, except they live afew hundred miles away so i wouldn't be able to visit H as often if i just moved into a rented place nearby. I'll be on maternity pay of 120/ week or whatever it is, with a 6 week old - would i be eligible for council housing? thanks for assistance.

OMG hun what a terrible situation.

My SIL has recenly gone through bankrupcy.
Basically she wrote letter to the mortgage company and enclosed the keys, she did however sort her rented house out 1st ad she knew it would be extremely difficult to get a house after.

She didnt however pay the mortgage for the last couple of month i mean lets face it,its hrdly going t make much difference.

She waited till house had been sold by mortgage company to see what difference she was liable for and then did the bankrupcy.

iIt all went through pretty quick actually ad shes now in the process of gettingback on track.

Is he going to be in a while i take it??

Are you on maternity from a paid job, if so you should be able to ge tax credits, if not income support.

hope this helps

So sorry to hear you're having such a nightmare at the mo.

I've no idea about bankruptcy but I do know about benefits whilst on SMP as I've been on my own with my son since he was first born.

Benefits are a bit crap whilst on SMP, you're officially classed as being employed so u can't claim income support but you'll get tax credits. However, as the tax credits are calculated on your income for each tax year and we are already quite far in to the tax year you might not get a huge amount. They don't look at how much u earn each week, they look at how much you have earned during the tax year.
My first piece of advice is to put in your claim for tax credits now. You wont be entitled to claim anything until your baby is born but once you have set up your application u just need to ring and tell them once baby is born. I didn't do this so it took about 2 months before I received any money.

You'll also be able to claim the £500 sure start grant once baby is born, if they decline your application just appeal telling them u are broke and u should get it.

I also don't know a great deal about council housing but I believe that anyone is entitled to apply for a council house but there may be a wait depending on the area and your criteria.
My friend is a lone parent and was under the belief that she'd easily get a council place but was told that the waiting list was approx 1 year.

However, you'll be able to claim housing benefit to rent your own place.
You'll also be able to claim council tax benefit.

You can work out what you'll be able to claim on this website benefits calculator

Hope this helps x

aaaw thanks for responses, will read properly soon, yes he might be infor a couple of years worst case scenario, at least he's having a bit of time with baby at the moment, some poeple don;t even get that do they.

thank you very much

He was acquitted (sp?) thanks for your posts, the utter utter relief