Can anyone give me advice on what to do regarding my financial situation?

[glamedupbutonlythekidscansee]

The situation is this:

H moved out in July. Contributes nothing towards mortgage but does pay CSA weekly.

House we own has no equity in it. In an area I hate. If we were to sell, it's doubtful we would have enough to cover the fees and pay the mortgage off. More than likely we are looking at a shortfall.

I was working part time when he left but he decided to stop looking after dc when I was at work and as my job involved working till 9pm at night, I had to quit as I couldn't change my hours.

I have managed to keep hold of the house because of SMI benefit which helps to contribute to the mortgage. This effectively reduces the mortgage to £300 a month for me.

I resigned myself to losing the house but the shortfall is an issue. As is where do me and my two dc live then? Thanks to h bad fininacial management over the last 13 years I have a bad credit rating and worry about finding a landlord.

I was so relieved that I was able to keep a roof over the children's heads. However now I see how trapped I am. if I return to work (which I want to) then I will lose the SMI benefit and then the house and be left with money owning to the mortgage company.

So my only option seems to be to stay as I am till I can no longer claim income support (3 years time as youngest is 2) and then be moved onto jobseekers where I will find a job, then lose the house and then be left with money owning to the mortgage company (house prices show little sign of improvement)

I feel trapped. I want to work but can't. I'm in limbo waiting for the inevitable in 3yrs time.

Any advice?

Don't feel trapped. Are you talking to a solicitor about the financial implications of divorce? Because I think you'll find that your husband cannot simply walk away from a mortgage without consequence. He is jointly liable. Some solicitors offer a free half-hour initial consultation and can be found through the Law Society website.

Also you should talk to your mortgage lender, explain the situation and see if you can come up with a payment plan between you until the housing market recovers enough to sell. Lenders are much more keen to keep customers in their homes paying something rather than forcing sales and losing money.

I'd also suggest you talk to agencies such as the Citizens Advice Bureau and your local Housing Authority. CAB are good with money advice and also legal advice. So combine them with a solicitor specialising in Family Law and you should benefit.

Finally, are you claiming all the state help available? www.turn2us.org.uk has an excellent online benefits checker that you can run your details through.

Could you look at renting the house out - would it make enough to rent a flat somewhere you'd prefer to be?

For now, see if you can take in a lodger under the Rent a Room scheme
up to £4500 a year towards the running of the house tax free

Do you have any other debts?

If you have negative equity, you could stop paying the mortgage and use this money towards a bond and a few months rent on a rented house.

I recently had some real financial worries and the most helpful thing I did was figuring out what information I needed to really know my options.

I got the house valued, spoke to agents about likely movement of the market, talked it over with a couple of friends and figured out a few other things I hadn't thought of (repayment holidays, extending terms of mortgage), did some sums on what size house we would have to ,move into to make a big enough difference, and figured out when we would need to make a decision by.

None of these things involved any commitment, they were all information gathering and planning, but it was enormously helpful to have it all down on paper (a screen!) and get some perspective.

In a strange way this could be a good thing - as your ex could be out of pocket and you could offer to get him to sign the house over to you and pay you money to get his name of the house deeds.

Then in 3 years time it could well be that the house is not worth less than the mortgage and you could possibly sell with a small profit or break even - if that is what you want to do, so don't be disheartened.

I would look at the rent a room as a way of using your home to make money for you. There are a lot of people looking to rent rooms as renting a flat is becoming more and more expensive.

As another poster states - look at a mortgage holiday, extending the mortgage another 5 years and reducing the payments.

Look into what benefits you can get.

I'm married but did the online benefits calculator to see what would happen if we got divorced. My total income would be £3k+/month. (£1600 wages, £1000 tax credits, £400 housing benefit, £130 child benefit.)

Surely you'll get some help from somewhere!

Solve problem - i don't think those figures sound right.

Why not, RedHelenB?

I don't know and I'm obviously not gonna try applying for it as I'm not getting a divorce. But it's the figures the turn2us website gave me.

I've got two dc's and childcare is £260 per week.

Anyway, I think op should check what she could be entitled to.

Well I had three children & earned less than you & didn't get that much in tax credits, even when I had nursery costs. Just sounds very generous tbh.