Leaving marriage

[Userjal]

this has probably been asked thousands of times but I can’t seem to find anything that fits my situation, I am married currently have one child, expecting another in the next month. I want to leave my husband. I have done all the calculations with universal credit etc and with my wage, I only work part time I will get this topped up and this should be affordable for my outgoings. Obviously I will be going on maternity leave very soon, the company I work for do pay a full wage for a good amount of time. But what happens when I start to receive statutory mat pay, will I still be eligible for uc to top me up? Also we don’t own our house and don’t have any assets to speak off, couple
of old cars etc, not much debt but no savings. What happens to all of that? I just want out as as soon as I can. If I have to move that’s fine, if he will leave even better. I just don’t know where to start thanks in advance

Hi, yes you can use universal credit to top up statutory maternity pay. Not sure about the debts. Good luck with it brave decision :-)

Thanks so much! Do I have to leave the home before I can get the ball rolling do you know? There isn’t much debt, a couple of thousand and it isn’t actually in my name but I’m presuming as we are married it does fall on both of us? I just want to move onto the next stage of mine and my children’s life as quick as possible

Do you mean the universal credit ball?

It's easier to get if you claim after one of you has moved. There are rules whereby members former couples, under the same roof by force of circumstance, can claim as single people but you'd need to show the absence of any sort of family life in terms of money, eating, domestic arrangements generally etc.

You say that the current home is not owned - do you pay rent?

I honestly haven’t a clue, never had to claim anything before as we’ve always both worked. I would ideally like to stay where I am as we haven’t lived here long, it’s near my family and school etc. but If I had to be the one to leave obviously moving etc can be expensive. Yes we pay rent. All our money is together and we just spend what’s left after bills jointly

Sorry to hear this. I got divorced many years ago: as far as money and possessions goes if you both agree on it you can simply decide between you who gets what, then it gets written up into a court order, and the court should rubber stamp the division so long as you both have taken legal advice. This is what me and my ex-wife did. If you CANNOT agree then the court will DECIDE who gets what, but that can be a lot more lengthy and costly as I understand it.