Decided to split but unsure what help I'd get!

[Futuremrsdyer]

My partner & myself have 2 children (15 & 10) and I feel ready to end of awful relationship. My concern is we live in a shared ownership home & are both on the mortgage. I'm the main care giver & want to stay in the house with the kids. I don't want him with us but can't afford the bills & mortgage alone. My question is in addition to csa is he legally obliged to help with the housing costs for our children?

Do you work full time? I don't think he's required to pay towards a mortgage he's no longer part of, but if it's not 50/50 childcare split then you'd get some child maintenance.

Does he work full time, contracted for a company?

essentially, you cannot rely on income from him at all. Legally he might have to pay something. Practically he can pretty much fuck around for the next 8 years costing you money.

also the 15 year old wouldn't have much longer left receiving maintenance anyway. If you cannot afford the house now, how will you in 1 year’s time when that child’s could end?

What you need to do is up your income.

try entitledto website.

I thought - I could be wrong - CSA is/was the contribution to bills housing clothing etc and nothing else is required once a split is financially sorted.

Agree with other check the entitled website butt also see can you up your work hours etc

All the best your freedom may come at a price but it will be worth it

See a lawyer who can discuss all of your specific circumstances. Is he a very high earner if you think he can afford to run two households?

So I work 30 hours a week & other than every other weekend the children would be with me

Sounds very much like you want to have your cake and eat it. Where is he going to live? My ex remains on the mortgage for me to meet affordability but I pay the mortgage. We will need to sell the family home this year so he can buy, that’s just life. He doesn’t owe me a lifestyle.

If you're not married then not only will he not be required to pay anything other than child maintenance but you'll have to buy him out of his share of the house. If you can't afford the bills and mortgage alone then you're definately not going to be able to increase borrowing to buy him out, so the house would have to be sold.

Are you married and is he in agreement to seeing them so little?

Yes, are you married? Did you take time out of work or go part time to care for children? If so you may get a proportion of 'his' assets eg his pension or some of his share of the house.

If you are unmarried you'll get child maintenance but nothing more.

How is he about the split? A good father would want stability for his kids but could he even afford to pay the mortgage and rent or buy something for himself to live in?

Have a look at entitledto, as others have suggested. UC calculations take into account the rent component of SO (but not mortgage), and are unaffected by maintenance. It all depends on so many details, and looking to increase your income from work is good advice regardless.

(Some people will erroneously inform you that unless you're a really low earner there's no chance you'll get UC, but they're poorly informed. Depending where you live and what your housing costs are, it is absolutely possible to be assessed as needing some UC on a very decent salary.)

See a solicitor that specialises in family law asap. Its not about your ex partner owing you a lifestyle, its about providing stability for the children.
CSA is very unreliable, there doesn't seem to be any mechanism to make the absent parent pay what they owe, and there's no political will to fix the system.

After seeing a solicitor talk to your landlord, if you are in shared ownership some landlords may buy shares back, and you might be able to rent the same house.

So he works away during the week so he would only be able to see them on the weekends. He rarely has much to do with either of them & both dislike him due to the way he is ie argumentative, sulks & ignores us. Due to his work I'm only able to work 30hrs a week. I'm not necessarily expecting him to cover the mortgage or bills but I wanted to know if I'd be entitled to any other support due to me looking after the children 90% of the time.

So, you don’t want him with you, but you expect him to pay child support and contribute towards your housing costs, in addition to his own? YABU.

It will depend really whether he is happy for you to stay in the house or whether he will want his share of the equity so that he can move on and find somewhere else to live ?
Can you afford to stay in the house alone/ can you afford the mortgage payments.
He only has an obligation to pay child maintenance and nothing else.
You can look at claiming universal credit.
If the house needs to be sold and you end up with more than 16k from the equity then you won't get any UC until it drops below 16k again. If the money is being put into another property then it can be disregarded for a while I believe.
I may be wrong but honestly don't think you'll have any claim on his pensions etc if you aren't even married.

MemorableTrenchcoat
Of course I expect him to contribute towards the children as they are his children!!!

Thanks for the advice. Obviously I wouldn't expect any of his pensions, bonuses etc I was simply asking if he had any legal obligation to help in terms of housing his children who are both disabled.

That’s what child support is for. He can no longer split housing costs, utility bills etc with you, so his expenses have gone up. You can’t expect him to pay all his own housing costs and subsidise yours at the same time, even if his children are living there, disabled or not.

Well he will of course have an obligation to house his children, but that'll be seen as provided by him in the house he lives in? That's why there'll have to be an asset split so both parents can house the dc.
Sadly sometimes this may mean a change in 'standard of living' as finances decrease.

You will be entitled to CMS based on his earnings, and that’s it. He is expected to provide his own housing suitable for his children.

It’s shit OP but it is what it is. Few men could afford to pay the mortgage on two properties and unless he has substantial savings, he would likely not have a deposit without selling the family home anyway.
Your choices are:

• buy him out and pay all mortgage and bills yourself with his CMS.
• move somewhere smaller which you could buy in your name. This would also involve selling the family home.
• don’t sell the family home and buy another flat or smaller house and you each take turns living in the family house with the children, whilst one of you is in the flat. Doesn’t sound good in your situation with your children’s relationship with their father.
• sell the house and then, depending on equity, privately rent until you earn enough to qualify for a mortgage in your own name.
• move out and use the equity to pay rent until you qualify for social housing (could take years)

He is only expected to pay child support legally, anything extra is a private arrangement. As for the house, he’s entitled to half the equity typically but he can agree to a different split, allow you to stay with you retaining his equity for a set number of years or even sign it all over to you - but crucially he doesn’t have to. Sometimes you can swop equity for pension as an example, talking really is key as if you leave it to solicitors the only winners will be the solicitors! Try to talk. Generally you’ll be expected to maximise your income, if not his solicitor could use this against you if it did end up in open court (this won’t happen if you can come to an agreement)