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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Would you leave if your dh never said anything nice to you and also refused to name you as co-owner on deeds to house?

50 replies

tisrainingagain · 01/07/2014 07:46

Just that really. There is a back story which I have told before, but without going in to all of that and the ins and outs of our relationship problems, would this be a deal breaker for you?

OP posts:
Jinsei · 01/07/2014 07:47

Yes, sorry.

Why won't he put your name on the deeds? Big red flag if you ask me.

samsam123 · 01/07/2014 07:48

yes if you have somewhere to go and money he sounds horrible.

Yama · 01/07/2014 07:48

Yes. I wouldn't be with someone who clearly didn't love or like me.

As for the deeds of the house - I would never become financially dependent on someone if I could help it.

Boomerwang · 01/07/2014 07:48

Yup, I'd want to know why and if he couldn't provide a reasonable answer then I'd take the lack of offering security seriously in a relationship.

BikeRunSki · 01/07/2014 07:49

I would give leaving some serious consideration.

bloodyteenagers · 01/07/2014 07:49

The deeds would depend.
Did he own the house before you came along for starters.
Put downs. Nope wouldn't accept.

eurochick · 01/07/2014 07:49

The not saying anything nice would make me leave. The deeds part is pretty irrelevant if you are married.

JasonOgg · 01/07/2014 07:51

Yes but I don't underestimate how hard it is to leave. My exH never ever put me first and was emotional distant and unkind. However it took a specific "incident" to shake me out of making excuses for him and actually take action. Wish I had done it before! I hadn't realised how low I had become until I was out of his influence.
Hoping you can find the resolve and strength if it is the right thing for you too.

HippyPottyMouth · 01/07/2014 07:53

The put downs would be a deal breaker. DH makes my life better. If that changed, he'd be gone.

The house, it depends but in principle that'd be a dealbreaker too. Our house is in my name because I had it before I met DH. I deliberately didn't change it before we were married, and after we were married there didn't seem much point, because if we split it would be treated as a matrimonial asset regardless of whose name was on the deeds. When we move the new house will be joint because we're buying it together.

KnackeredMuchly · 01/07/2014 07:54

Ignore the deeds. Do I want a partner who says nice things to me? You're goddamn right.

That's my dealbreaker.

rollonthesummer · 01/07/2014 07:54

The put downs would be a deal breaker. The deeds is a different matter. Did he own the house before you came along? Have you got children? Do you pay the mortgage?

attheendoftheday · 01/07/2014 07:56

Yes, neither of those would be acceptable to me.

diddl · 01/07/2014 07:56

I'm not sure if I'm on the deeds tbh as I don't remember signing.

If so, it wouldn't be because husband had refused though.

Never saying anything nice?

Well, I don't think husband compliments me that often (nor do I him). but we get on & are nice to each other & do things for each other.

So I think yes, I would leave.
He doesn't seem to care about you at all.

Bearbehind · 01/07/2014 08:02

I'm not sure if I'm on the deeds tbh as I don't remember signing.

Really? Hmm

Do people really not know if they co-own the property they live in and presumably pay the mortgage on?

Jesus wept.

OP, he doesn't sound like a great catch- does he have any redeeming qualities?

MorrisZapp · 01/07/2014 08:07

In Scotland here. It was going to cost over a grand to get my name put on the deeds so we didn't bother. I trust my DP to do the right thing if we ever split.

If he puts you down though, that's a dealbreaker I'd say.

peggyundercrackers · 01/07/2014 08:07

the put downs would bother me.

as for the deeds - if he owns the house and its all paid for with no mortgage then no I wouldn't expect to go on the deeds.

SybilRamkin · 01/07/2014 08:07

If he never says anything nice I'd ask him to go for couples' counselling before leaving.

The house deeds - it depends, if he owned if before you married and you have no DCs then no, I don't think he should have to put you on the deeds, why would he not protect his assets?

NotNewButNameChanged · 01/07/2014 08:14

How sad that you need to ask the question on here. Surely you must know in your own heart that everyone is going to say it is unreasonable?

NotNewButNameChanged · 01/07/2014 08:14

(his behaviour, I mean). Why would you want to stay with someone who doesn't say nice things to you? That's even before we start on your name not being on the deeds.

LumpySpacedPrincess · 01/07/2014 08:15

Yep.

WooWooOwl · 01/07/2014 08:44

If my DH never said anything nice to me and we never enjoyed our time together, then yes, I probably would leave.

I wouldn't expect to be on the deeds of a house that I didn't pay for, so that would make no difference to me.

Pagwatch · 01/07/2014 08:58

Yes.

DandyDelores · 01/07/2014 09:04

The deeds thing depends. Check the terms of the mortgage contract as some banks insist on the mortgage being fully repaid if the title deeds to the mortgaged property are to be amended. Following such repayment, they may be willing to grant you a new mortgage but this may well be on less favourable terms than the previous mortgage (depending on when the latter was taken out/granted, your respective salaries etc).

See a solicitor about putting together a deed of trust to say that, in the event of a sale, each party will be entitled to 50%. However, such deeds of trust may also say that each person is 50% responsible for the house i.e. maintenance, mortgage etc (and any half decent solicitor would advise your husband to leave this bit in).

IMO, if you are married, the primary carer of any children you have with him, and currently not contributing towards the mortgage and are unable/unwilling to, I personally would maintain the status quo as (IIRC), regardless of mortgage contributions etc, the home will be considered a marital asset with a presumption of a 50:50 split, but with rights of occupation for the spouse who is the primary carer for children under the age of 18.

As for the lack of nice comments, this too may prove a deal breaker, but would definitely need more info to consider whether or not YABU.

tisrainingagain · 01/07/2014 09:49

Thank you for your thoughts. The backstory is here and I realise it's basically a repeat of what I am asking today Blush. Things came to a head yesterday again as I was feeling so anxious and low about things between h and I in general (we have had a couple of arguments over the past two weeks where h is basically unpleasant, swearing etc.. and lots of withdrawing and not really talking - which he never does anyway) and I was walking to the post office with a horrible knot in my stomach kind of hyperventilating.
So I rang h yesterday in tears and he did stay on the phone to battle it out (which he would never normally do). However the things he was saying have not made me feel better. There is truth to some of it but I sense no love. Basically he said that:

I am bored and need to work and that when I am working I won't spend so much time worrying about stuff like this - kind of true.

That I am always resentful of something and if not this then it will be something else - I suppose there is an element of truth to this.

That I am lazy - not true and very hurtful but true that, as my sister put it, I sometimes "get paralysed by things and get less done than [I] could through lack of self belief".

That I think I am above cleaning certain parts of the house.

That he is rude to me and not to other people because I challenge and "niggle" him constantly.

That the mess in the kids' bedrooms (it is true, they are messy) mean that he cannot be affectionate etc.. (or words to that effect).

That he cannot put himself in the vulnerable position of having my name on the deeds as he does not want to be dictated to (he and his first wife got divorced and she got the large family home (her son was his stepson) whereas he got the smaller business with flat on top. He is incredibly resentful of this.

That he would love to "sit" like me and I go and do the work that he does (physical).

I kept on banging on about how I look after the kids and don't feel that what I do is in any way recognised. At that I don't think he loves me. He did not say anything to this.

He referred to some of my friends as "fucking idiots" because a long time ago one of my friends blanked him here at our house on a few occasions. Not entirely sure why she did this but he went ballistic at me afterwards saying she was not to come here. He is very easily hurt and bears a grudge for a long time.

He said that I had suggested us selling the family home ("his" home) so that I could get my name on the next house (it's true that I did say the next house we buy should be in joint names but that was a long time after starting to tell him that the way out of the hard life he leads would be to sell the house, but he wants to do things a different way and he holds all the cards).

I think he has little concept of how insecure I feel. And also low, so that I cannot function properly. He said he does not care how other couples run things (basically on a more equitable basis). Also that I will get part of my Dad's house (hopefully in a long time, the thought of my Dad not being here is very frightening and sad) so I am alright. Which is so not the point. I don't really understand what my role here is. H is not mean in the sense that he works hard to pay the mortgage and in a sense I have more cash on a day to day basis (and also went through a phase, round about the time my mother died 7 years ago, of spending too much money (it was my money but maybe that is not the point and I would do things differently now) and h is still very resentful of this - I have also bought lots for the house and paid for holidays / extras for kids with the money that my Mum left me which is now finished). Sorry - very convoluted sentence.

I basically do not know how to overcome my feeling of depression, inertia and anxiety and do not know what to do for the best. I do not want to be a bit player on h's ship. He maintains that he is not in control either but that is not how I see it. He could sell anything if he so desired. Leave everything to whomever he wants. I feel that I have devoted 12 years to being a SAHM but that I have no assurance as to whether h cares one iota as to what might happen to me were he to die.

Anyway, if you do think IABU (or parts of what I say), please tell me gently!

I do want to work. But I want to work towards something concrete for my own future that I have to look after, not for pocket money to be spent in the context of someone else's life.

Yesterday h said that I should find an internet based job (like translation) so that I can do drop offs and pick ups and be here when the kids are ill.

Yesterday I heard him mumbling "fuck off" and "get out" to himself while upstairs and am convinced he was talking about me Sad. So I feel that he needs me here to have someone to look after the kids and that is it.

OP posts:
tisrainingagain · 01/07/2014 09:59

I did send him a text yesterday afternoon saying that I am not lazy but that his negative attitude towards me makes me depressed and anxious. H is also very resentful of the fact that when things were really awful between us and he was being unpleasant a lot more often (as opposed to just distant) I told my Aunt (whose partner is his friend) a lot of stuff. So now he no longer comes to see her with me. However if I hadn't had her to talk to when things were really awful, I don't know what I would have done.

OP posts: