Seperation & Finances - advice required

Hi there - I''m fairly new to this but would appreciate some advice please.My husband and I separated about 3 years ago but continued to live together for the sake of the children and for financial reasons. Although we have lived seperate lives we kept a joint account for bills & food etc although we didn''t cook for each other. He is now in another relationship so spends very little time here. Our eldest daughter is at University and when she is away he does spend more time here due to needing to be around more for our youngest. I was wondering whether I could now claim single parent status from the point of view of applying for additional help with supporting our daughter at Uni? She currently only gets her student loan but if I were on my own she could claim a partial grant as well. He hasn''t officially moved in with his new woman and all his post still comes here. I work but don''t earn enough to support the mortgage and the running of the home on my own. I don''t claim any benefits at the moment as I have just assumed that I wouldn''t be entitled to as my husband still spends time here (he hasn''t told the kids about his new girlfriend and so can''t really see them outside the family home) - a friend is telling me otherwise. Any advice would be much appreciated - thanks x

You need to separate all your joint finances so don''t have a joint account for food, I think that you could have a joint account for the standing bills such as mortgage, utilities etc.

As the home address is his address you cannot apply for a single persons discount for council tax but if you agree and can prove that you are living separate lives it may well be that you can get additional financial support.

Citizens advice might be a good place to start.

Hi - thanks for that. Will look into splitting the accounts I think. As for Citizens Advice, I have tried but am finding it impossible to get through to them at the moment. Prob wouldn''t look at claiming on the council tax anyway as my eldest lives here when she is not at Uni making two adults living here. Am trying to keep everything simple but at thesame time don''t want to miss out on any help I might be entitled to