About to apply for tax credits. What do I need yo know.

[Scottishthreeberry16]

Me and OH (married) are separating. He's going to live in a flat locally in 2 weeks time. He's agreed to give us (2 kids going to live with me) money to cover food bills, mortgage (in joint names) etc and to transfer this into an a/c I ve just set up in my name.

I work an hour of week atm (currently a student till Dec).

What do I have to do to ensure the tax credit process happens smoothly? It seems that many of you have a nightmare time with tax credits when dealing with them.

I would make sure you seperate any joint / finances so that you are not linked to him. make sure all his post goes to his new address and make sure he does not apply for any credit or anything from using your address. I'm not sure how they will view the joint mortgage, I think after a certain period of time you would be expected to sever the joint mortgage.Lone parents frequently get their claims investigated and you may have to prove your finances are completely seperate so it is wise to have everything in order. If he is making payments to you it might be wise to have it identified on your bank statements as 'maintainence'.

Thanks Baby. They must come across this so often though - where it takes time to disentangle, especially where children are involved. OH will be paying to keep a roof over his children's heads. Am
not sure the mortgage company will accept it just being in my name for payment as I don't earn enough per month to cover it at the moment.

What have other people done?

I have always found the tax credits to be easy to claim for.

You fill out the form, send it back and if your income is different this year to last year phone them and let them know this years income.

Not sure how the mortgage works though as i have always rented in just my name.

Can i also ask, what are you going to do if your ex doesnt pay any money? Just because he says that he is going to doesnt mean he will. You need to have a back up plan.

Same situation here. DH moved out 4 months ago. I applied for a tax credit form over the phone (that way they back date the payments to the date you phoned rather than the date they process the form)
We still have a joint mortgage as its going to take at least a year to untangle the finances and it hasn't seemed to affect anything. I pay the mortgage myself and all bills here in my name. I've also let the council know and I get 25% single person discount now on council tax.
Make sure DH changed his address with everyone and especially the bank as that is what will likely get checked if they do check it

DH pays me an amount each month for the children and that's not taken into account at all for any benefits

use one surname until you have been divorced and can change all names.
I made that mistake. Haven't got divorced and last time I tried changing my name with some places, they wouldn't because I wasn't divorced. Some would easily let me do this. So, some companies I am Miss X, others I am Mrs Y. Obviously with TC I gave them the both names.. Fast forward to 7 weeks ago, and TC stopped because I am basically living with myself. Despite they acknowledging they fucked up, I am still without TC.

Let council tax know, you say you are studying, if it's full time it makes you exempt. If not, 25% off and some areas do a low income discount.

Once you have child tax credits sorted, you can also claim free school meals. Depending where you are, it might already be free, but the school will get extra money.

Disentangle as much as humanly possible from him. Change over all utilities to your name. make him take all his bills with him. Any letters that come to you from him, send them back not known at this address. You have to be ruthless.

Oh this is all good information, thanks. I've never taken his name so no change there.

My plan is to get a job as soon as possible after I complete studying in December. I'll just have to trust he'll pay the kids' maintenance. If he doesn't, I can't pay the mortgage which, given the house is half his, wouldn't be a great strategy on his part as the building society would take it back I assume and he'd lose his share.

Do you have a plan for the house in the long run? I think you can get a court order so that you can stay in the house until the youngest is 18 at which point the house is sold and equity divided. I agree with pp though, though should have a back up plan as even though your ex is obliged to pay child maintainence he doesn't have to pay the mortgage too. At any point he could ask that the house be sold and equity divided. Will the job that you hope to get pay enough to buy him out at some point if that's what he wants. there may be a point where he wants to buy another property and needs his halfof the equity for a deposit perhaps.

I'm not sure re a job salary as I have to find one yet. Youngest is 11 so it will be some time before she leaves home. I guess at some stage, we'll move to divorce and split the assets in whatever way. I have no other back up plan than that really. Stupidly gave up my career to support his and take care of the children. Did hourly paid termly work when youngest started nursery so not much of a pension or career - hence retraining.

Can't think beyond getting through these next few months at the moment... I know I'll have to think of my future at some stage - sooner rather than later as am in my 50s