Can an ex partner force me to sell the house?

[monstermissy]

Ex left a month ago to live with his mum, my choice. He is now saying he want the house sold and his share of the money. I have three children under 16 and want them to stay in their house. He is currently paying the mortgage rather than give me child maintaince. We are joint owners. He has threatened to just move back in, can he do that? can i change the locks?

Will be off to see a solicitor in the week but just wondered if anyone had any ideas?

[belledechocchipcookie]

IIRC, he can move back in, you can't change the locks either, sorry.

[mumblechum1]

On the presumption that you weren't married, then in general situations like this are dealt with under Land law rather than Family law, and so whereas if you were married you often have quite a strong chance of receiving more than half of the sale proceeds, or to have the house transferred over to you, unmarried people do not have those rights.

What you could do, however, is make an application under Schedule 1 of the children Act l989 for an order that you are allowed to stay in the house until the youngest child is 18, and at that point the house would be sold and the money divided equally, assuming that you currently own the house in equal shares. If he can afford it and you can't, the court may order that he pays the mortgage, but that's quite unusual.

He can move back in any time he likes unless you have evidence of violence or threats of violence/harrasment, in which case you could apply for an occupation order (type of injunction which would order him to stay away).

[monstermissy]

Thankyou both, yep i did think he is within his rights to move back in. Not a healthy situation so hoping it wont come to that. Maybe it would be best to sell the house then... so i can cut as many ties as possible with him. Ive no desire to 'screw him over' but want some boundaries in place. Dont want him coming and going etc he is a big drinker just dont want the kids around a crap situation. Thanks again.