There are many aspects to widowhood and at some stage, financial issues have to be addressed. In an attempt to ease the burden I have gathered together some important pages from Revenue, Welfare and Citizens Information.
The pages from Revenue and Welfare can be searched directly from the Widow.ie web-site and all information contained therein is direct from their respective web-sites and accordingly, up to date.
If you are suffering financial difficulties MABS have written an article about the free advice they can offer. It would be wise to contact one of their offices and remember, its a free confidential service.
Citizens information provide a wealth of information and can point you in the direction of various services and financial supports that are available. Due to the wealth of information available in the Citizens information web-site I’ve provided a link to their ‘bereavement’ section as a starting point.
Welfare not only provide the widow(er)s pension, free travel, fuel & telephone allowance but also a grant towards the cost of the funeral. If you have young children, at time of writing there is a once off grant of €6,000. With a number of other benefits to numerous to mention and each having various qualifying procedures, it is worth studying their web-site.
In relation to TAX, revenue also provide assistance via Tax Credits. Its best to view the list of items available which as I’ve said earlier can be read here on Widow.ie. Revenue advises that you contact your local Revenue office and inform them of your situation, they will advise you what next to do.
Its advisable to also contact to your solicitor for assistance with various matters.
Respectfully yours,
Widow.ie
15th October 2009