Hi, I'm asking on behalf of a friend! She split up with her now ex last Friday after a pretty violent outburst on his part and has spent the weekend at mine. He's left her with not a penny and when she got home he's taken everything of any worth from the house. We sat down yesterday morning and done a benefits calculator for her and their 3 children. It got to the housing benefit part and asked about child maintenance so we done an estimate for that and it came back that she would have to pay £20 a week towards the rent but couldn't give any info on council tax, so my question is would she have to pay more towards that aswel? He would have to pay 60 a week. I have advised her to get the ball rolling on everything including maintenance because after the way he's behaved and the situation he's left her in with the kids he deserves all he gets. She's entitled to income support and tax credits, but she's concerned about his reaction if she goes to child maintenance, her point being if most of it is taken into account and she's not actually left with much extra for the kids then is there really any point considering the grief she will get? She's not money grabbing just a desperate mum trying to do the best for her kids, she's not claimed benefits before so it's all new to her, and I can only tell her what I know and maintenance is new to me Aswell. Any info or advice I could offer would be appreciated thanks x