£100k + Universal Credit?

[NeverGoingToGiveYouUpButIMayLetYouDown]

I want to claim UC as I am no longer able to work due to a progressive illness.

Husband and I are divorcing. I owed him money, from a verbally-agreed loan between us both, so I transferred money to him three months ago. Plus, some of his savings were in my account, so I also transferred this back to him three months ago.

Will Universal Credit look unfavourably at all this - that I transferred £100k to him, and have very little (less than £16k) left over for myself? I have never claimed benefits before, so I am nervous this will be seen as deprivation of capital, despite occuring prior to me making a claim.

If you own a property (or half of one) then you won’t get any UC towards rent. You’d need to wait for the divorce first. UC will disregard a house deposit for a new place for 6 months I believe, but if you aren’t putting it towards a new house then it would be classed as savings. Even after 6 months, if still not bought a property they’d still consider that savings as they expect you to buy again within 6 months. As for the 100k, they are going to be highly suspicious that you’ve transferred that money and left yourself just under the max savings allowance. You’d have to prove that money was a loan that you’d repaid. Really you shouldn’t be transferring anything to him without legal advice. If they were joint savings, then it doesn’t matter if you worked or not. That’s like you asking him to transfer all the unpaid child care, school pick ups etc.

It seems to me that your only source of advice here is your husband. He is the LAST person you want to be listening to, he is not your friend or helper.

1. you cannot have a joint solicitor for divorce / financial split in the UK. He is lying or the solicitor is dodgy.
2. a court will NOT sign off a consent order that is blatantly unfair ( ie one person gets a house and 100k and one gets nothing).
3. a financial consent order will not be allowed for one person to rely on benefits and one have the savings- why should the state pay for you when you have money from your marriage
4. you need your own solicitor and quick. Do not agree to anything in the meantime
5. do not move out
6. you can’t owe a debt to your husband in this way, any money in the bank is owned jointly.
7. if you proceed with what you have suggested then you are likely to either not get any UC or have to pay it back at a later date, and end up with nothing.
8. if you are trying to play the system you won’t get round it this way. And rightly so as this is a clear deprivation of assets regardless of your health.

Please get some urgent independent legal advice on your divorce, housing and financial consent order. Forget about claiming UC until you have sorted your finances.
Good luck

Have you transferred the 100K yet OP? I wouldn't do anything before speaking to the solicitor.

I've literally heard it all now. And people say there is no benefit fraud

I find it hard to believe that this is genuinely someone who doesn't know what's available and what should happen when divorcing as well

I don't think that will be acceptable. You'll probably get turned down.

The work needed on the house does not matter. All that matters is its current value. You are owed half of that.

Then all the money in all the bank accounts. You are owed half of that.

Then pensions. You will be entitled to a percentage of his pension.

You do not need UC. You need to see that solicitor ASAP about your divorce settlement. You and your husband are wealthy. You are not leaving the marriage in poverty and going on UC.

Most important - Do not tell your ex. Do not tell him that you are looking into this, do not ask his permission, do not discuss UC with him because IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM. Anything you tell him just gives him time to prepare and hide money.

You’re getting your share, if you get your own solicitor. Not the current one who acts for him. Get your own. And please let us know how you get on.

You’re absolutely deluded.

You should be walking away from his marriage with AT LEAST 50% of the house, savings, vehicles, pensions and other assets.

Your husband is leading you completely up the garden path. You should never have paid the 100k back to him- that was joint savings. If necessary the house, car and other assets will be sold. He may also have to give you some pension rights too, or agree a better split on your side if he keeps his pension.

Chances are you may well be refused UC then, once the baby arrives, he’ll stop paying you the monthly sum too. You need to get at least half of everything NOW, do not trust your ex and get a good solicitor on the case asap.

As PP said, claim New Style ESA which isn't means-tested. Depending which group you are put in, you may be able to stay on it long-term. Also, claim PIP.

My deal is to have the car worth 17k and monthly payment of £850

But this is a shit deal when you could have half the value of a house owned outright plus half of savings. Not sure why he would pay you 850 a month either when kids no longer at home?

This just reeks of an arrangement designed to leave you eligible for UC while he keeps the house.

The cynic in me thinks this all sounds very staged and just far too convenient.

Your then husband loaned you money to get cancer treatment? He told you it was a loan? If you had the money to pay him back... why did you need a loan? What man loans his wife money for such a serious issue.

It does sound staged and far too convenient

Please don’t listen to him he doesn’t have your best interests at heart.

Get your own solicitor.

Having read all your updates theres a few things...
•Your soon to be ex sounds like a manipulative arsehole
•You need to look out for yourself, I get that you're focusing on your health but how hard is recovery going to be when you are stressed about money and living in almost poverty.
•Him becoming a dad again is not your problem
•You MUST get your own solicitor -but please stop focusing on the UC- focus on a min 50/50 split in assests and money.
•You do not owe him anything for raising his/your children!! Obviously you did it because you love your children, but there is absolutely a monetary value to childcare. He would have had to pay a fortune for childcare if he had been a single dad or if you both worked full time. (You may have even put your career aspirations aside to allow him to focus on his- another reason to possibly get more than 50%).

I work in this area.
The fact it's a verbal agreement is not going to help your case.
I wouldn't be surprised if you were deemed to deprive yourself of capital and at £100k, it would take a long time for it to right itself.
You can challenge the decision, but be upfront about the money.

Is this real??

No. This was prior to making a claim. Provide your bank statements if they ask for them and he clear about your savings. You don't need to discuss prior transactions. If you were not claiming UC during that period, then it will be disregarded.

UC only asses savings and wages during what we call "Assessment Periods". You will need to declare the savings. Anything between 6 and 16K will be deducted. 16K and over will close the claim.

You can also claim contributions style JSA and ESA alongside UC. Considering you are very ill - Make a dual claim for UC and New Style ESA. Provide all of your medical information, and please also apply for PIP, especially if you're very ill.

Let UC know that the money prior to your claim was a financial split during divorce proceedings. Your partner sounded abusive, and it sounds like financial coercion. You can get extra support from the DWP, when it comes to abusive separations. There are specific teams to support vulnerable claimants.

Please do go ahead and make your claim. It's tailored around your circumstances.

👏 💯

I am so relieved to see you are getting your own solicitor. Anything less is insanity. Do NOT have a joint solicitor with someone you are divorcing

You will have a very hard time convincing them you aren't trying to commit benefit fraud.

Out of all that money, what is yours just so happens to be just under the cutoff.

There's no way they will think anything other than fraud.

They'll treat it all as joint money until proven otherwise.

I'm sorry you're unwell and hope this doesn't cause you further difficulties but I will give an honest answer here. As a country we are on our knees. Why do you think that you should be allowed to effectively GIVE your capital to your ex husband and then be funded by everyone else's tax?
It was a marriage, with one partner working full time and one raising children, joint assets and joint savings not his to do with what he pleases and the unmortgaged property at minimum should be split 50/50 he will need to buy you out and not with savings that should already be yours. The fact his new partner is expecting is not a consideration of the court as not your responsibility. It will look horrendous for him if he tries to present that in court.
You need to find a solicitor and ensure you get what you are entitled to BEFORE you consider asking for UC, taxpayers are not required to fund his delusions. He must be rubbing his hands with this one.
Also... to be clear you are due half his pension too. You'll have to give him half yours but sounds like the trade off would be worth it.

I appreciate you are vulnerable and this is a lot to deal with but UC is not a get out of jail free card because he wants to be a prick. Good luck x

My exact response!

Policy and practice, better of calculator is excellent to break down what support you might be entitled to receive. If you’re named on a mortgage I’m not sure if you will get the housing element of UC. As a single adult you might not get any extra help.
Be careful leaving property without getting advice from council as you might be classed as making yourself intently homeless if you can’t find private rent.

Ex-H and I haven't done our financial settlement yet but in order to satisfy the solicitors for the house sale we had to both write and sign a letter explaining the split of funds we had verbally agreed at the time, and lodge it at the solicitors' office. So you could do something like that, but I'm just not sure you'll get away with it as it makes it look like you were trying to shift cash around. But as everyone has said, you need legal advice, and to consult a benefits advice website like like "Entitled To.com"