You must provide a letter or statement from an independent person with good standing in the community, such as a professional person, which confirms you are irreconcilably estranged from your parents.
You must have had no contact with either parent for at least 12 months, although exceptions can be considered to this timeframe, to be deemed as irreconcilably estranged from your parents. Just living apart from them or their unwillingness to provide their information on your application will not be considered.
This independent person should have known you and your circumstances for a substantial amount of time, however must not be a relation or close friend of the family.
The letter or statement should be on headed paper and include the following information about the independent person;
- Their full name
- Their job title
- Their contact details
- The capacity in which they know you
- How long they have known you
- How long you have been estranged from your parents and how long they have been aware of the circumstances regarding the estrangement
You may also wish to provide a secondary letter or statement from a relative or family friend to verify your circumstances, however this cannot be used as acceptable evidence on its own.
In addition, we recommend you provide a letter of your own explaining your circumstances in as much detail as you feel comfortable with.
If you are unable to obtain a letter or statement from an independent person, you must give as much detail as possible to explain why in your additional letter.
We recommend you provide as much supporting documentation as possible to proof your estrangement from parents, however we are unable to offer any further advice on what we may deem acceptable evidence until you have send us everything you can and we have processed your application.
Although written to support Student Finance England / Wales applicants, you may find the information available on this independent website useful in addition to the information provided above.