Benefits advice needed............

[deckthegirlandboywithholly]

This may be a long shot really. Just need a bit of general advice......

A friend of mine is on the point of splitting up with her husband and is feeling very frightened about her future finances. She doesn't know where to start regarding any benefits she may be entitled to. I have suggested the Citizens Advice Bureau, but she can't get to see one until after Christmas.

I would just like to try and reassure her that there will be help for her, but not having been in this situation I will only be guessing, re income support etc.

She has a part time job of 8 hours a week. If she earns more than what that brings in then she loses her carer's allowance (her son has a life limiting illness).

She has 2 children (7 & 10).

Can anyone suggest what she may be entitled to.

TIA

www.entitledto.co.uk

Oooh thanks for that, I'll take a look.

she will probably be entitled to income support if she is still earning low enough to get CA.
She will get tax credits and i am presuming she gets DLA whcih will mean she will end up with a premium added to teh tax benfits.

she will also qualify for housing benefit and council tyax benefit.

Thanks very much for that Mama.

I just want to try and reassure her because she is really panicking.

Thanks again.

well if her some gets teh higher rate care componant of DLA then they should be eligable for pretty much the same as me.
single mum 2 children 1 with Sn.

Cat me and i will let you know how much and how its made up

Ah, can't Cat. Not paid the sub!

The lone parent advisors are good at job centre plus. They sort it all out for you.

a bit here

Jumping - thanks for that. I'll email her with the link.

To be honest there are 3 steps to this:-

1 housing - where is she going to live, and how is she going to be secure in it. What is her current family home and what are her rights to it? Who is moving out and into what?

1. Child maintenance - the father should still be supporting his children so she needs to think about how much that will be as it will impact some benefits.

1. Then she will be in a position to do a proper benefits check. But really she needs to think about 1 and 2 first and for that she needs to go to a solicitor, not the CAB.

well i dont really fancy giving exact figures out here, but surfice to say that its better than you would expect

Right, ok. But why a solicitor and not the CAB????

Thinking of cost here!

Mama - I appreciate that, I understand totally.

Thanks

If the marital home is jointly owned with a mortgage then CAB can explain what the options might be, but cannot give legal advice - they will simply point her to a solicitor. Also you would be looking at 2 appts not one (too long to cover housing and bens in 1 interview usually). Depending on her circs she may get help woth legal costs and many sols will give 30 minutes free.

For decent bens advice she needs to sort out housing options first as this is fairly critical. I wouldn't advise you to raise too many hopes on benefits as if there is any capital/equity then this would give a different outcome for your friend.

Thank you all ladies.

Much appreciated.

Your friend needs to go to the benefits (revenues) section of her local council and get a form for Income Support and Council Tax Benefit, I dont know about her housing situation so cant comment, she should also get onto tax credits and apply for Child Tax Credits, if she works 8 hours then anything over £20 will be taken off her, so she should either drop her hours, or build them up to 16 then and apply for Working Tax Credits. If she is going to get a lot of maintenance it might cancel out her Income Support, she should go to the CAB or Welfare Rights at her local council and they will do a calculation for her, she should do this all now rather than later.

how's your friend getting on deck?

basically it all depends on what her and her husband have between them, irrelevent as to whose name is on assets etc. if they are married everything, including bith partners debts are considered as well as assets and as a starting point is divided on a 50?50 basis but if her husband is a higher earning capacity etc then she may be (most likely) entitled to a larger share of the house. if children are young then husband will have to pay child maintenance at 20% net income for 2 children and may even need to pay spousal maintenance depending on his income. if you have a joint house, dont think you get any benefit as it is an asset. if you sell it, i think you are considered to have made yourself homeless so still would not get benefit. solicitor/separation agreements/divorce may be best option.