Separating- am i entitled to anything?

karen82

Hi
myself and my husband are trying to agree terms for a separation but looks like it will have to go to court. In the mean time I'm not working. I gave up work after our third child was born as childcare for 3 was too expensive. He works full time so we weren't on an sw payment. Now I'm gonna have to move out with 3 kids who are between 2 & 10 yrs old. I can see that my husband will do anything he can to give me as little as possible so I've no idea where I'm going to live or what I'm going to survive on. The house is worth nothing and we have big debts which are being handled by an agency. Any advice on what I can do? Would I get any help from the CWO?

Delancey

No if's , but's or maybe's - you will have to seek maintenance from your husband . If you approach Social Welfare for assistance the first question they will ask is what arrangements regarding maintenance are in place.

Your husband may not like it but that is his problem - the view taken would be ( not unreasonably in my opinion ) is that he should be supporting his children and not the taxpayer.

Once maintenance is sorted then you may see if you qualify for One Parent Family payment or something similar . Sorry to hear of your troubles , best of luck !

eastbono

karen82 wrote: »

Hi
myself and my husband are trying to agree terms for a separation but looks like it will have to go to court. In the mean time I'm not working. I gave up work after our third child was born as childcare for 3 was too expensive. He works full time so we weren't on an sw payment. Now I'm gonna have to move out with 3 kids who are between 2 & 10 yrs old. I can see that my husband will do anything he can to give me as little as possible so I've no idea where I'm going to live or what I'm going to survive on. The house is worth nothing and we have big debts which are being handled by an agency. Any advice on what I can do? Would I get any help from the CWO?

As you are not working you can apply for Jobseekers Allowance as I dont think you will have an entitlement to Jobseekers Benefit as the qualifying year is 2009 but go to your social welfare office and begin the process and after 3 months being separated you can apply for One Parent Family Benefit. While these claims are being processed you can apply for supplementary welfare allowance from your community welfare officer.

karen82

thank you for both for your replies. I think I need to get the papers filed with the court because he wont go and i've nowhere to go and with no money. Sometimes I wish life had a fast forward button so we could just skip the bad bits and just deal with the outcome

aujopimur

As you do not appear to have an income, contact your local Law Centre for free legal aid. (Check Golden Pages)

aujopimur

I forgot to add do not leave your home, if your partner is threathening you or is abusive you can apply to the court for a protection order at short notice.

Lugh Ildanach

If you are renting, you may also be eligible for rent supplement.

If you own your property and are thinking of leaving the house to rent elsewhere yourself, then it gets kinda tricky as you will have to be assessed by your local authority before being eligble for the rent supplement in these circumstances. If this applies to you, then get down to your local authority and put in an application to be assessed on an emergency basis and before you leave.

However above poster gives good advice above about staying in the house if you can, and seeking protection from the courts if you need it.

If you need some support through this difficult time then you can contact One Family http://onefamily.ie/ , or One Parent Exchange Network http://www.oneparent.ie/