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How do I make my husband leave me?

140 replies

JackTheSad · 03/12/2023 21:14

I'm desperate for him to leave me. He seems so irritated by me and the kids and I would find things easier if he wasn't around all the time. I don't love him I don't think.

But if leave him he will make everything impossible. He "jokes" that he will tell everyone I'm a drunk. He has made comments about "winning" if we split. He's v petty.

If he leaves me, we will manage things. He's v good with the kids and we can co parent together I believe. But if I leave him, I suspect the kids will suffer as a result of DH putting me through hell and courts

Am I being totally mad to try and get him to leave me? Just stop making any effort. Am I being really ridiculous or could that ever work?

OP posts:
Flamingo68 · 04/12/2023 00:33

Janieforever · 03/12/2023 21:29

Who ends a marriage as the other person farts 😂

I’d have been divorced the day we married 🤣

altmember · 04/12/2023 00:20

I think it's very manipulative to try to get your partner to leave you and want them to feel guilty for leaving, making them think it's their decision. And it's highly unlikely to work, unless he's completely thick. Thinking that if he leaves you he'll be more reasonable post divorce is also highly unlikely to work. I'd say he's more likely to see right through it and play games right back with you.

Unless you are BOTH reasonable about the divorce settlement and child arrangements (and it sounds like you don't want to be either tbh) it's going to have to go through the courts anyway.

If he's that nasty and vindictive that you feel you can't leave him, then perhaps you need to leave stealthily with the kids (get your ducks an a row and then disappear quickly). But what it sounds like is that you want him to go without a fuss, and leave you in the family home with no disruption or upheaval to yourself. The only way you're going to achieve that is if you matchmake him with someone younger and more attractive, which is pretty fucked up.

ChanelNo19EDT · 04/12/2023 00:06

From what I've read on here @JackTheSad the reasonableness can be shortlived. It's so hard though, you know that if it'syour decision it will unleash their injured ego.
Suggesting marriage counselling is a good idea. He will either refuse or it will become obvious, with a witness, that there is no point staying together.

TheNestedIf · 04/12/2023 00:02

He's already told you he's going to badmouth you, so why give him a genuine, possibly verifiable reason?

Also, what makes you so sure he'd leave as opposed to just starting another relationship behind your back?

Guesswho88 · 03/12/2023 23:53

NuffSaidSam · 03/12/2023 21:38

If you're having sex with him, stop. Tell him you've been diagnosed with a condition that means you can't ever have sex again. Tell him you don't want him to suffer through a sexless marriage and although it would break your heart, you'd be ok if he wanted to leave to pursue another relationship.

Not good. That sounds like the OP is accepting an open marriage whereas she doesn't want any marriage.

jm9138 · 03/12/2023 23:51

Just out of interest you say in your post that he ‘seems so irritated by you and the kids’ but then later say ‘he is great with the kids’. Other than saying he is irritated with the kids and you and saying he can be vindictive what else does he do?

I think it is all well and good with the posters saying how you can make his life hell or you should just leave him, but you and your family are the ones that will have to deal with the consequences. It seems to be that at the first sign of a relationship going a bit stale the advice from MN is just to split up. Having gone through it myself divorce is hard on everyone and it can have impacts that last many years. Not least of which is the loss of shared memories. I don’t have anyone to talk to about when my children were babies for example and I find that if you don’t have people to talk about a shared past with those memories get weaker.

If you really feel that your happiness is entirely dependent on separation from this man then I would suggest that you are just up front and say you want a divorce. Trying to force him to leave in some of the ways suggested here is not going to end well and making his life hell may elicit sympathy from a judge. If you have not tried counselling and he is willing to give it a go then maybe try that first.

Jas5mum · 03/12/2023 23:48

How old are your children??

My husband can also be v.petty. drives you insane!

Lavender14 · 03/12/2023 23:47

Go for marriage counselling. Might help him to see that it's no longer working.

But to be honest it sounds from his comments like the current set up is working for him. It sounds abusive so your other option is to leave and then get support from womens aid to help navigate his reaction. As others have said you can't predict or control how he would act, you can only control what you do.

CheekyHobson · 03/12/2023 23:47

If he leaves me, he'll feel guilty and be reasonable.

If he’s as much of a controlling asshole as you say, I suspect this is nothing more than hopeful thinking.

However you could also be catastrophising and he either won’t be as bad as you think or won’t be able to do any realistic damage. (For example, so what if he tells everyone you’re a drunk? If the people around you don’t see a drinking problem when they look at you, his words will have little effect. Courts will want to see some evidence of serious drinking before they consider it as a factor.)

As other posters have said, focus on restricting the ways he could plausibly inflict damage on you by getting your own side of the street into pristine order. Then pull the plug yourself and let him do what he’s gonna do.

BetsyBobbins · 03/12/2023 23:45

JackTheSad · 03/12/2023 21:18

@Sapphire387 both of those things would trigger incredibly revengeful behaviour from him and the kids will be put through hell.

If he leaves me, he'll feel guilty and be reasonable.

I'm clutching at straws here maybe

I'm so sorry you're going through this and I completely understand you because I'm in the same boat.
I pray every day that he finds someone else but like my friend said, even if he does find someone he won't leave you because he considers you "his". He not only threatened to take my son away from me via courts but also implied he was going to say whatever he wanted to make DS believe him over me in case of a divorce. DS is 14, so I have to wait until he's at least 18 or leaves home as I have neither money nor enough mental strength to take on him.

All the PPs saying leave the bastard will never understand that kind of men. Men who happily make their kids suffer if it means their wives will suffer too. It's not just your regular cheater/liar combo, this is men prepared to drag you through hell in a family court twisting the thruth until they get their result. It's manipulation and gaslighting taken to a next level.

There was a documentary a few years ago (I think it was on Channel 4) about kids who have been taken away from loving mothers by men who took them to court. They took not only the kids away but also the women's sanity and their money too.

If you're saying "leave the bastard" or "see a solicitor and get a divorce", consider yourself lucky to never have experienced fear that a man will take your kids away from you just because he can.

TealSapphire · 03/12/2023 23:41

He's going to make out you're the bad guy no matter what. Everyone who matters will see through that. The kids will work him out too.

olderbutwiser · 03/12/2023 23:38

I hoped for about 10 years that XDH would leave. Have an affair. Anything that meant we could separate without him thinking it was my decision.

In the end I broke the marriage up. Yes it was ugly and he was vengeful and petty, but only for a while. He loves the kids so didn’t take it out on them. He moved on pretty quickly and we are now both happily remarried.

i wasted 10 years of my life with him. It’s a regret I will take to my grave.

BreadInCaptivity · 03/12/2023 23:37

When it comes to the courts and your children, who left whom is irrelevant.

The starting premise is always that the children's best interests is served by having both parents in their lives as equitably as possible.

That said, I understand how a person behaves can be dictated by the sensibility that they made the decision to leave the relationship rather than being left.

The problem (as detailed by a poster above) is that it's incredibly difficult to engineer the outcome you want with any degree of certainty re: the outcome and his response.

For example, no sex/disinterest may actually be a status quo he finds not only acceptable but enjoyable. He gets to live a "single life" and do as he pleases with no interest from you. When he's unfaithful you don't care.

So why would he leave? He's got all he wants without the financial implications of divorcing. In short you're potentially in danger of creating an environment that's less conducive to him leaving rather than more.

In your situation I would definitely see a solicitor and get my shit together financially and in terms of my understanding of the law/process.

Then I would initiate the separation but my "take" would be a piteous humble pie approach of "not being worthy of him", "setting him free" and "wanting the best for him and the children".

In short, leave him but make him think it's because you can't meet his expectations rather than he doesn't meet yours.

worryingalot · 03/12/2023 23:37

Forgive any spelling errors / typos!

user96327888 · 03/12/2023 23:37

ChanelNo19EDT · 03/12/2023 21:36

I know what you mean op. My x hated me for leaving him. I left with nothing, debts and dependents and still he hated me, for years if you asked him now 17 years later, he'd still hate me. If only he'd been the one to make the decision.
Ideas.
Another pregnancy,not really obviously
Find religion
Be sick so he has to look after kids more
Tell him you are having tests to see if you have MS, OR describe the symptoms and make him think I've got to end this before I look like the bad guy

You're suggesting someone lie about MS??

worryingalot · 03/12/2023 23:36

Totallt understand you OP
I was desperate for an ‘out’ from a previous relationship
In the end I left and unfortunately it took a long time for ex to stop punishing me for it although we avoided court by a thread
in the end though we were alright whenever we saw each other and DC has no bad memories of his father (who has now died) which he would’ve if I had stayed. So I’m glad I left when I did before it got even worse at home. I did get some nasty letters sent about me to family members and wild accusations but I just had to plow on through really.
No good advice though I’m sorry

user96327888 · 03/12/2023 23:34

If he's so manipulative and awful then he's clearly not going to be the one to leave you.

You can't control his actions through yours, you've made that clear.

Why do you want him to parent your kids if he's so bad?

It makes no sense.

2021x · 03/12/2023 23:33

samqueens · 03/12/2023 21:38

This is great advice. You can only manage your behaviour, and not his.

If there is anything at all you think he’ll use against you then do as much as you can to neutralize it as a possibility (eg. don’t have a cheeky glass of wine on a Friday evening if you think he’s going to try and make out you’re a drinker - it’ll be a lot harder for him to do that if you just don’t drink).

Accept that you might need time to build your exit strategy and give yourself space to do that - get all the advice you can for free and make sure you have your own bank account so you can also get decent legal advice about divorce.

If he enjoys hurting you, being unkind etc etc then I reckon he is very unlikely to leave you - and if he does he will drag you and the kids through hell emotionally first anyway.

You might find Lundy Bancroft’s book Why Does He Do That? helpful (read discreetly, download on kindle app/Apple Books).

I hope you’re in a manageable financial position to make a divorce feasible. Don’t have any expectations of him vis a vis the children post split - if you can co-parent amicably that’s a massive achievement, but all your talk of court suggests he is unlikely to be that easy to deal with. Just take things as they come - you can’t see everything that’s going to come, just try to manage what you can.

good luck 💐

Even if he does leave of his own volition it doesn't mean the process will be any easier. If he is someone who is controlling then any way you exert your freedom will be a slap in the face to him regardless of whether you are in a partnership or not.

Please consider contacting Refuge or other organisations from a persons phone that it cannot be traced to yours, who can provide you with tailored feedback for your specific situation.

Ofa · 03/12/2023 23:21

PTSDBarbiegirl · 03/12/2023 21:23

Get a lawyers letter instructing him to leave the family home as you are separating.

Wow, the above may be the worst advice I’ve seen on Mumsnet. Way to misread the OP!

Good luck, OP. Sounds very difficult. You can try but I doubt he will leave, sounds like he knows you are miserable and doesn’t care. 😔

GarlicMaybeNot · 03/12/2023 23:21

I did. He'd asked me previously what I'd do if I was with a man who wouldn't leave me, and I told him I'd piss him off until he left me. He'd also said, several times (not at the same time as the "What would you do" question) that nobody ever finished with him. He always told me this very forcefully, as if the very thought enraged him.

From what I could gather, his previously serious relationships had ended that way - he'd been convinced his fiancée was cheating, and ended their engagement in a dramatic way. There doesn't seem to have been any evidence she was cheating, but she acted in some ways that caused him to "know". The other one managed to be annoying and drift away, so he started looking elsewhere.

Our marriage wasn't good from before the wedding. He was a bit of a gaslighter with an unpredictable temper: I became quite insecure. He absolutely hated me asking where he'd been, who with, etc, even in the normal "how was your day" sort of way. I asked him more often, and for more details. We had many huge arguments about it. I cried quite a bit. This all came very naturally, as I felt so unstable in that relationship.

Nonetheless, he kind of seemed to expect this - he was acting like a shit, so perhaps his internal marriage model included an evasive husband and a wailing wife. I already had an active social life of my own, but stopped telling him where I was going, who with, and what I'd been doing. That didn't seem to bother him but he followed me a few times, so I figured I'd carry on.

If anything clinched it, it was when I completely stopped being attentive. I acted like we shared a house (with sex - the sex was mainly good). Didn't do any household stuff except what I needed, didn't ask him if he wanted to eat, made zero attempt at conversation. We spoke, but I didn't chat and shut down the few efforts he made. Didn't say hello or goodbye. You'd think, with all his fulminations about being a Very Private Person, he'd enjoy this but he didn't. He was already shagging around but, conveniently, I think he met his current wife around this time.

As he stormed out, yelling that he was done with me, complete with ring-throwing, one big thought was in my mind: "At last!"

He still didn't file for a divorce - he might have been waiting for me to beg him to come back - so I hurried him up by filing myself. This was when you still had to give reasons, and I knew he'd never sign a document saying he'd been unreasonable! As expected, he counter-filed against me. I signed that thing quickly.

You didn't need all this detail, @JackTheSad - sorry. It's the first time I've had a chance to tell the story! In short, I played to his ego and need for control.

Whatever he keeps telling you annoys him - do more of it. Stop being a wife, as far as humanly possible without distressing your DC. Stop even being his friend & companion. Importantly, follow the advice of the wives of yesteryear: make him think it's his idea!

Oh, and do line up your ducks. I didn't, and came off slightly worse financially (he refused to fill out the financial declaration, which I should've foreseen). Post-divorce, though, he was quite civil and actually very helpful.

SaturdayGiraffe · 03/12/2023 23:11

Has he ever disengaged from you in the past? If so, can you replicate those circumstances?
Does he feed off your energy? If so, can you drop it right down to the point of him becoming bored?

WonderingWanda · 03/12/2023 23:11

He sounds deeply unpleasant. He threatens you that if you leave he will speak malicious lies about you, he's petty and your gut instinct is telling you that he will go out of his way to make your life miserable or to discredit you if you leave him. This is textbook abuse and coercive control op. You need to get some support and most importantly leave him. He may well do the nasty things he has threatened but that's not a reason to stay with him.

OuiOuiMonAmiJeMappelleLafayette · 03/12/2023 23:09

I read a book the other a day about a woman that wanted to separate from her abusive husband, but knew that if she tried to leave him, he'd make her life hell.

So she put on weight, became really boring with the odd unreasonable outburst.

Then after a while employed a nanny/housekeeper who was very attractive and he ended up having an unfair with her and leaving his wife.

It was a book, but it could work? I don't know.

Otherwise you're going to have to leave him.

UnpalatableButTrue · 03/12/2023 23:08

It's not going to work, OP (sadly).

It's all very well saying "don't have sex with him" - but how many people in dead marriages still have sex with one another? I hadn't had sex for at least 5 years when my husband and I separated.

Believe me, not having sex doesn't convince a narcissistic, vindictive husband to divorce you.

I'm afraid you have to leave him, OP. But there's no particular reason why the family court has to be involved. If you're really lucky, your husband will also be a skinflint, in which case he will want to settle with you before it gets to court.

See a solicitor and find out what would apply to your actual situation. Then take it from there. My ex husband made it clear that I would be left destitute, but the law is generally fair, especially when children are involved. He also said he was going to kill himself, but he didn't.

MsCactus · 03/12/2023 23:00

I think this is a terrible idea and will backfire HOWEVER if you really want to do it:

  • could pretend to develop an illness that makes sex impossible (eg pelvic pain condition), presuming he has a libido/likes sex
  • cry a lot about nothing
  • be very very boring
  • moan that your life is so hard all the time
  • be really possessive and clingy

Basically be as annoying as possible, THEN...

  • set up a SM account and catfish him. Be incredibly flattering to him as OW. Say as the OW you want him single

In all honesty though... Just leave him!