Can anyone tell me what my mother would be entitled to if she split with her husband?

[DrFunkenstein]

My mum is in her mid 60s and in an unhappy marriage - she wants to break free but is worried about her financial situation if she does. I'm planning on going to the CAB for some advice but it is going to take a while before I can get to one so thought I'd ask on here in the meantime

The situation is she owns her property but has released some of it to one of those awful equity release rip-off merchants. She would be entitiled to about £160K from the sale of her house is she sold. Her husband has been the sole earner in the relationship but the house was bought by my mother, her (previous married) name is on the deeds - there is no mention of her current husband. She says she has paid the majority of the council tax and water rates from her savings. Would her husband be entitled to any of the money from the sale of the house?

Also, if she were to leave him and set up on her own she has no savings and a tiny pension. She would be able to buy a small place of her own but would she be entitled to any benefits / financial aid to help her with her day to day living?

TIA.

She should look at accessing a proportion of his pension income, there are courrt orders which can be applied for a spouse. Unless she has protected the house he may still have a claim I'm afraid but CAB can advise. There may also be restrictions on selling due to the equity release scheme. As to benefits it would depend on her capital and income for IS etc but unlikely to qualify for much other than single person Council Tax as threshold is pretty low.

Thanks

Anyone else got any ideas or suggestions?