Spouse Definition

Aidric

Hi Folks,

From studentfinance.ie, the definition of spouse.

“Spouse” means each person of a married couple who are living together or a man and woman who are not
married to each other but are cohabiting as a husband and wife.

The latter part of that sentence is confusing me. You have to be married to be jointly assessed for tax purposes so what's the relevance of cohabiting as a non married couple when making an application for a maintenace grant? My girlfriend is going back to do a masters in September. We are both financially independent even though we live together. All outgoings including rent are paid equally therefore she is not financially dependent on me in any shape or form. The woman in the local VEC office informed her that she would have to mark her status as cohabitating and provide all my income details also. This will obviously impinge on what she will be entitled to if they jointly assess.

Anyone been in a similar situation?

celod

Hi Aidric,
I had a (kinda) similiar issue when i was made redundant at the start of this year. I had been travelling 2 years previously which happened to be the relevant year for the purpose of being entitled to the Job Seekers Benefit. So i was only entitled to Jobseekers Allowance. I stupidly mentioned that i was living with my boyfriend so they said his means would have to be assessed.
In the end it turned out that if he earned more than €400, a week i would be entitled to nothing. Somehow he was meant to support himself and me and pay a mortgage on that amount! We were similar to you in that we were totally financially dependant. I paid him rent as the apartment was his and we split bills, etc. But there was absolutely no way they would listen to reason.
Ridiculous as it is, if you are in a relationship and living in the same house you are considered as a spouse, end of story.
Anyway, to get to my point at the end of that ramble, if your girlfriend can avoid mentioning that you in a relationship at all, i would recommend it. It is unlikely that if you say you are just flatmates they will find out otherwise?
I am hoping to go back to college next year and that is what i plan on doing. I've learnt from my previous experience.

djk1000

An unmarried couple (cohabiting) is assessed as a married couple for grants/welfare etc, but they can't share tax credits if one is in full time education and the other is working! How unfair is that! If you are married, your spouse can get your tax credits, if you are in a cohabiting gay relationship, it's not counted as cohabiting either.

Aidric

Thanks for the replies, I'm baffled at the ridiculousness of the situation. She probably should have kept her mouth shut and said nothing but mistakenly said we were a couple.