Claiming housing benefit whilst separated?

Hello, my wife left me almost a year ago now, it is very amicable between us (thank god!) I have the house and have always made the mortgage payments. She never contributed..(maybe a few times in 8 years). My wife has been renting a flat and has been struggling financially, i have been helping her out with money when possible. She is now on sick leave and is uncertain about her ability to work. She now cannot afford to pay rent, does anybody know if she will be entitled to claim Housing Benefit whilst her name is still on the mortgage of our house? We are not 100% certain of divorce, we were married for 15 years and are both struggling with our situation even though we are trying to move on and both have new partners.
She has no intention of demanding anything from me and i want to help as much as is reasonable. Can i be forced to make a settlement?

Any help appreciatted.

Hello Hermman yes she can claim houseing benifit you are seperated and she rents a flat get a claim in quick as i dont think they back date it.
If your x divorces you and decides she wants compensation from the marrige she will be entitled to a large part of the assets you had prior to seperation after 15 years prob a 50/50 split there are lots of considerations such as children income and lots more

thanks for replying, there are no children involved and i earn a lot more than her...although i may become unemployed soon. Am i right in believing that if all remains amicable then regardless of what she is 'entitled' to, if she is willing to accept less than 50/50 of assets then we can agree on settlement? or will i be forced to pay otherwise? is settlement allowed before divorce? (probably not a wise idea)

thanks.

Hermann, my stbx and I separated 2 years ago and have just begun the divorce process. I didn't want to leave the financial situation hanging in limbo before the 2 year separation period was up so I approached a solicitor and he drew up a deed of separation which set out the division of assets etc that we both agreed upon. My solicitor gave us some guidelines on what was likely to be accepted by the court when the divorce was made final. When the time comes (after Decree Nisi granted) my solicitor will arrange for this to be turned into a Consent Order and stamped by the court. As long as the deed of separation is fair, there has been full disclosure of assets, debts, income etc and both parties have obtained legal guidance before signing then there is no reason why the DJ should overturn it.

Hi, may I ask on what grounds one can claim housing benefit in this situation? Do they disregard that she has her name on the property because she is separated and does not have access to the property when assessing housing benefit entitlement or something?


The reason I ask is I am supporting a friend who is in a similar situation. She separated from her husband nearly 20 years ago. She had to flee domestic violence and was diagnosed with severe mental illness with children. She was put into temporary accommodation funded through Housing Benefit (receiving benefits) where she stayed for about 10 years. Then moved onto private letting also funded through housing benefit.where she has been over 9 years now. She still does not have access to the property which is occupied by her separated husband.