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Normally living together for SDP
Hello,
Wondering if anyone has any thoughts.
I have a client who is currently receiving the SDP. However, it has come to light that she has a son who has just turned 19. Son is erratic with long history of behavioural problems/additional needs education etc that have continued into adulthood. No disability benefit ever claimed for him and he refuses to engage. She is clear that she wouldn’t ever kick him out into the street if he had somewhere else to go.
Since the age of 16/17 he has been in and out of the home inconsistently. He is in theory hoping to get a place of his own (without perhaps realising the realities of London housing). He is sofa surfing around various places but does still see her and does have a bedroom in her home. She struggled to put a number on the nights he might spend away in any given week.
I have looked at the commissioner’s decision regarding this from 1996, but was wondering if anyone had more concrete pointers to what might be taken into consideration in their situation?
I think there is a good argument that he does not normally live with her, but she is nervous given the grey area. Any thoughts?
Many thanks
I looked at that and immediately remembered that my own mother maintained my bedroom at her house up until she passed away in 2003 - despite the fact that I left home in 1978.
The test is one of whether you are ‘normally residing’ with a non-dependant. The rest of of the stuff is really superfluous to the argument