Hi all, wanted some advice from men who have separated and dealing with the financial costs, I'm sure it's similar in most countries so any advice helps but I'm in the UK.

Me and my partner are unmarried and have a 50/50 mortgage and we have been together for 6 years, and we have a 3 year old son. We have been having problems for at least 3 years, constantly breaking up and getting back together. We separated fully (still living under same roof, 3 months ago).

We have tried two counsellors, had 5 sessions of counselling recently but my partner does not find it helpful and doesn't really want to engage so we are doing mediation now.

She is registered disabled and does not work at the moment. She claims benefits, and I work full time and pay for everything.

Without going into details about why we're splitting other than we just see the world very differently and seem to have cycles of conflict that has been unresolved with therapy, I think we are now heading to separation.

The problem is, I have no idea how I'm going to live paying 500-600£ a month of child maintenance with rental prices in my area being £1000-1250 a month for a 1 bedroom flat. Also if we sell the house, she will lose access to her benefits as she will have a chunk of the equity from the mortgage. So she wants to keep the house, but then if she does then I lose out, and I can't afford to rent and pay child maintenance.

I'm thinking about getting another mortgage if it works that way, but still it seems virtually impossible financially.

Question for you? Did the financial implications put you off that much that you kept stalling a breakup and then broke up anyway? I know we shouldn't stay together for financial sake but it just seems dire.

I guess I could work more, or find a way to increase my income, is that what most of you have done? I'm just glad we're not married as this could've been worse.

Any insight would be helpful here