Social Welfare Appeal G0012

One Parent Family Payment claim. The Appellant’s husband left Ireland for a European country in 2006 with the aim of finding work. According to the Appellant, this was to be for a short-term period. According to the Appellant, her contact with her husband was intermittent following his departure. It was also asserted by the Appellant that her husband did not contact her when he returned to the State. The Appellant claimed One-Parent Family Payment. Her application was initially refused on the grounds that her marriage tie was not broken and that she was merely separated from her husband geographically. On appeal, the Appellant submitted that she had started judicial separation proceedings and that the marriage tie was broken. The Appeal was allowed.