More tax credits if married or divorced?

[want2change]

will be getting divorced soon and cant work out if i will get more or less tax credits - some people say i will get more if i am own my own but i thought i would get less as i thought our previous amount took into account him being in our household..?

You get more as you get the Lone Parent element of tax credits, which is around £1800 per year, if I remember rightly. When ex-H and I split up my tax credits went up a lot - in fact although I was working almost full time my tax credits were nearly as much as I earned each month.

All this depends on individual circumstances, though, and on how much you earn and how many hours you work.

I found they were the same, previously we'd had the "Second Adult Element" and this was replaced by the "Lone Parent Element" which was exactly the same amount. However, XP didn't work so the Second Adult Element could have been due to that. I find www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx to be quite accurate for tax credits so you could try running through your hypothetical situation to see what it says.

I think you get exactly the same as a lone parent as you do if you have a non-earning partner - but it goes further!

I certainly get a lot more as only my earnings are taken into account. I will depend on what he earnt I guess.

I get a lot more now too - in fact, swopping my ex for tax credits was the best thing I ever did!