single mum paying mortgage

[mummylou123]

am I right in thinking that if I were to become a single parent that I could keep my home? could I apply for help from the government and get the interest paid on the mortgage? I am currently self employed but if we were to divorce I would have to give up work altogether. Does anyone know what sort of benefits I could claim?

if you are not working you would get the interest of the mortgage paid but you need to have been on income support for 13weeks for this to happen.

I was a single parent for 6 years and had no contribution to my morgage.

I think it depends if the mortgage is just in your name. If its in both of your names and he works, I dont think you would qualify as bad as that sounds. Its a form of housing benefit, but yes you right you can claim housing benefit to cover the interest part of your mortgage - you just have to move your mortgage on to an interest only mortgage. The hardest part is getting your ex off the mortgage / deeds!

I would honestly not bargain on the government paying the interest on your mortgage, tbh.

There are going to be some very serious cuts to benefits on the horizon very shortly.

Also, if your children are over hte age of 7, you will be placed on Jobseeker's Allowance and not Income Support.

And if he's on the mortgage and works, then it's no deal, you can't get it paid.

It would probably be more feasible to sell teh house and buy your own place, tbh.

One of the biggest financial mistakes a lot of women make in divorce is trying to hang on to a house they truly cannot afford long-term.

if you could keep an income, and ctc, and wtc, and chb - could this make your mortgage affordable?

the mortgage-interest thing is crap and frankly has been zero help to us (not single, but single-income)

your mortgage company may refuse to take your Ex off the policy also - you need to discuss possibilities with them.

and your Ex may request that you do this (though possibly if it meant keeping his kids in secure housing, he could be persuaded? Though depending on the deal, he could be acruing equity in a house you were paying the morgage on..).

Very difficult.

In light of the new coalition government, you need to be thinking about how to split up without automatically relying on benefits, particularly in light of having an asset like a house, which will be considered an asset.

It's difficult, but it can and has been done by many, on this board, even, who would be happy to help.

Also, what you can claim at all depends on assets you and he have.

Benefits are not designed to protect assets or savings.

People are expected to use those to support themselves.

If you could give us more info people here will be able to help you more for sure.

unfortuantely cashing the equity could also mean a reduction of benefits - factor that in too. (if you have too much in cash savings, they assume a high amount of interest earned on it...)