How does someone cope with this?

A young couple have a severely disabled child who needs constant care. This means that the mother can't work and so the husband is the only earner. Money is very tight, they can't afford a car or holidays.

One windy day, on his way home from work, the husband is killed by a falling chimney. After the funeral the young widow decides to claim against the owner of the property, only to find that the property wasn't insured. So, she engages a solicitor, and after going to court is awarded compensation from the owner of the property. The property owner immediately declares himself bankrupt and emigrates to sunny Spain.

How does someone cope in a situation like this?

Did this actually happen or is it a hypothetical situation O.O

Hypothetical. But it obviously could happen.

[Viney]

Originally Posted by madness

A young couple have a severely disabled child who needs constant care. This means that the mother can't work and so the husband is the only earner. Money is very tight, they can't afford a car or holidays.

One windy day, on his way home from work, the husband is killed by a falling chimney. After the funeral the young widow decides to claim against the owner of the property, only to find that the property wasn't insured. So, she engages a solicitor, and after going to court is awarded compensation from the owner of the property. The property owner immediately declares himself bankrupt and emigrates to sunny Spain.

How does someone cope in a situation like this?

Thats a very grim scenario for sure.

Sadly there is nothing that can be done. The state will look after the woman and the child to some point. There are many organisations out there that would support her and the child from a emotional point of view. But it would be a very very hard situation to deal with.

That sounds bad. How about this:

My wife works with a girl, this girl is pregnant and has a boyfriend. He finds out that he has cancer, only it's so far gone that there is nothing that can be done but wait for the inevitable. The girlfriend is pregnant and chances are almost 100% that her boyfriend will not survive long enough to see his own child be born.

Now how does someone cope with that kind of grief, I just don't know where I would start.

I thought it was a bit of a farfetched scenario...

I assume the mother would be on benefits because she cannot work when caring for the child.
In your post, do you mean that the widow was awrded compensation and actually got the money?
If she doesnt get the money, then she would have to live on the bare minimum of benefits, and hopefully some additional finincial help for the disabled child.

[Luckypants]

Hypothetically then, take out life insurance on the wage earner before anything happens to them! Seriously, as soon as you have kids, you need to be insured to the eyeballs to make sure that they have the money to be cared for until they are grown should the worse happen. The other thing you need to do is make a will.

Simple term assurance should not be prohibitively expensive, but I do realise in the hypothetical case here it may be hard to find £20 or £30 a month. Depends on what peace of mind is worth to you.

There is no question that I'm worth a fortune dead, but am happy that my dependants will be taken care of.

[Viney]

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Hypothetically then, take out life insurance on the wage earner before anything happens to them! Seriously, as soon as you have kids, you need to be insured to the eyeballs to make sure that they have the money to be cared for until they are grown should the worse happen. The other thing you need to do is make a will.

Simple term assurance should not be prohibitively expensive, but I do realise in the hypothetical case here it may be hard to find £20 or £30 a month. Depends on what peace of mind is worth to you.

There is no question that I'm worth a fortune dead, but am happy that my dependants will be taken care of.

Phones LuckyPants wife to see if i can be of service

Originally Posted by Magnum

In your post, do you mean that the widow was awrded compensation and actually got the money?

The property owner declares himself bankrupt and moves to Spain, and does not pay any compensation.

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by Viney

Phones LuckyPants wife to see if i can be of service

She is no longer beneficiary after leaving.......