Social Welfare looking for financial details for ex's claim

AmIRight

Hi,

Wondering could someone let me know if the social welfare is entitle to ask me for my financial details for the single parent allowance my ex is getting.

I have a child with my ex partner, she is currently getting single parent allowance from the social and maintenance from myself. A year ago she was evicted from the rental property due to the owner wanting to move into the property. As you expect it is nearly impossible to get a rental property with the current market and my ex has HAP which made it harder.

I have my own property which i purchased after we split and was living there. Since i didn't want to leave my child to become homeless or go from hostel to hostel until years later for the government to finally house them, i decide to leave them move into my property and I moved in with family. I know of a couple of single parents who became homeless due to losing their rental and they were bounced around in difference accommodations which is a situation i didn't want my child to go through.

As I'm not entitled to receive HAP payments from them I don't charge my ex rent as this would cause hardship on my ex and in turn my child. Now the social welfare is contacting my ex asking her 'why don't you get back with your ex for the sake of your child and you can family assistance payment instead'. They are also contacting me asking me for my mortgage details and mortgage payments as well as my bank statements to prove this.

Are the social welfare entitled to be asking my ex to be getting back with the child's father when they have no idea why we're not together?
Are they also entitled to be asking me for the financial details? I'm not receiving any welfare payment and I'm working full time. The house is only in my name and all payments are been made by myself.

Thanks for any advice for any advance.

nthclare

Looks like everyone is taking you for a ride...

Sounds like a very interesting story though... tales from the twilight zone...

ahnowbrowncow

She's living rent free with the father of her child, not exactly the definition of a single parent.

ahnowbrowncow

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

She's living rent free with the father of her child, not exactly the definition of a single parent.

He moved out of that house and in with family.

AmIRight

I'm not living with her, I've moved in with family.
If she was renting from a private landlord she would be getting HAP to pay the rent as well as receiving single parent payments for all other living expenses. Her single parents payments was reduced by the amount of maintenance i was paying her.

If i was to charge her rent this would have to come out of her single parent payments which would leave her with nothing left for day to day.

AulWan

AmIRight wrote: »

Hi,

Wondering could someone let me know if the social welfare is entitle to ask me for my financial details for the single parent allowance my ex is getting.

I have a child with my ex partner, she is currently getting single parent allowance from the social and maintenance from myself. A year ago she was evicted from the rental property due to the owner wanting to move into the property. As you expect it is nearly impossible to get a rental property with the current market and my ex has HAP which made it harder.

I have my own property which i purchased after we split and was living there. Since i didn't want to leave my child to become homeless or go from hostel to hostel until years later for the government to finally house them, i decide to leave them move into my property and I moved in with family. I know of a couple of single parents who became homeless due to losing their rental and they were bounced around in difference accommodations which is a situation i didn't want my child to go through.

As I'm not entitled to receive HAP payments from them I don't charge my ex rent as this would cause hardship on my ex and in turn my child. Now the social welfare is contacting my ex asking her 'why don't you get back with your ex for the sake of your child and you can family assistance payment instead'. They are also contacting me asking me for my mortgage details and mortgage payments as well as my bank statements to prove this.

Are the social welfare entitled to be asking my ex to be getting back with the child's father when they have no idea why we're not together?
Are they also entitled to be asking me for the financial details? I'm not receiving any welfare payment and I'm working full time. The house is only in my name and all payments are been made by myself.

Thanks for any advice for any advance.

I very, very seriously doubt that Social Welfare asked your ex why you don't get back together, that sounds like a fairytale to me, and more likely it is your ex fishing for your thoughts on that? But leaving that aside...

As the father of her child, yes, they are entitled to look for your financial details if they are paying her a One Parent Family Allowance. You are what is referred to as a "liable relative".

Also, if she is living in your house rent free, this is considered a kind of maintenance in itself, a "contribution in kind".

It all comes under "Liability to Maintain Family" rules.

AmIRight

Isn't 'liable relative' that I have have to contribute maintenance which i do.
They now want to know what my mortgage payments are to deduct this but what does this have to do with maintenance. My mortgage payments are dependent on what i have setup with the bank. I could have a €1000p/m payment or €5000p/m payment, what difference does it make? They also don't know LTV i have the mortgage at or that fact i have a mortgage at all, they are presuming I have a mortgage as I'm the owner of the property.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

AulWan wrote: »

I very, very seriously doubt that Social Welfare asked your ex why you don't get back together, that sounds like a fairytale to me, and more likely it is your ex fishing for your thoughts on that? But leaving that aside...

Mod
Abuse of Social Welfare staff deleted. Please don't post on this thread again

jam_mac_jam

The fact that she is living in your house, they may suspect that you are back together.

They are entitled to ask for the details of the mortgage or payments as you are giving her free rent, they need to see that you are paying for this. So you would owe less or nothing in maintenance. Its also to prove what she is telling them.

You may be above board but they need to make sure that you are not living together and claiming single parents allowance.

nthclare

Nothing personal op, but you should have kept your own house and let your exe find her own place.

If your story is true and you sacrificed your own comfort's in order to make life better for your kid, then you're an extremely self less man and you're one in a million.

You do realise that if she stays on and you realise you're not getting on well living with your parents, you'll have to find your own place pay for that, and it'll be impossible to get your exe out of the house she could dig her heels in.

The social will basically think she's living rent free due to your good nature, so there's no point in giving her hap or rent allowance...

There's two winners here, your exe and the system....

I know the kid's in the middle and should be the most important one in your life....

But don't sell yourself short either

AulWan

AmIRight wrote: »

Isn't 'liable relative' that I have have to contribute maintenance which i do.
They now want to know what my mortgage payments are to deduct this but what does this have to do with maintenance. My mortgage payments are dependent on what i have setup with the bank. I could have a €1000p/m payment or €5000p/m payment, what difference does it make? They also don't know LTV i have the mortgage at or that fact i have a mortgage at all, they are presuming I have a mortgage as I'm the owner of the property.

They are entitled to assess your financial situation in full to ascertain how much you should be contributing in child maintenance... the "free rent" you are giving your ex would be included in this.

Was it the Maintenance Recovery Unit that contacted you?

If you have a Maintenance Order issued by the family courts, you should include this in any correspondence you have with SW, though technically any family court proceedings are supposed to be in-camera.

Disclaimer: I am not a legal professional, but I do have some experience in this particular area of Social Welfare, once upon a time.