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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To even consider leaving.

19 replies

SoConfused2019 · 18/05/2019 11:19

I have a dp of almost 18 years and we have a 6 year old son. Over the last few years close family members dying has put a strain on us both (I lost my grandmother and stepfather who bought me up from birth - he lost his own father).

I feel we've massively changed as people and although I tried to carry on as normal dp went off the rails a bit, he left his job to return to education, promising he'd do something within IT he signed up for art as his counsellor at the time suggested it as a form of therapy - for 3 years now I have covered all the bills, while he just pays the mortgage - our mortgage is very cheap and the bills I pay are almost 3 times as much. He never offers extra unless asked to help me out and has also never got a part time job during the college/uni course.

I feel so much resentment towards him being a teenager again, hanging out with his uni friends when he had me and his son and I stayed silent for a number of years to the point now I honestly dont care. I feel i've been both parents for the last few years and im so sick and tired of being the responsible adult. There are quite a number of trust issues on his part - he has always been paranoid for instance and this has started thing more recently, constantly asking where i'm going, who i'm with. For a number of years after ds was born I never went anywhere due to post natal depression, I stayed at home, had no friends and I feel he quite liked it. Now i've made good friends with some mums from the school we often go out and I know he hates this. i've never given him a reason to believe i've cheated but this part of him is tiring me out. He has depression and anxiety and I often feel when he's around I get really anxious - the nights he goes out with friends is when I fully relax.

I've been considering leaving for quite some time now, but when it comes to the crunch I just feel so sad for him and how his life has changed, I think about not having him in my life and what it would do to my son, He hasn't actually done anything wrong, hes the nicest sweetest man. That being said though I know I don't feel the same about him anymore, I love him deeply as a friend but im sick of feeling like his mother, having to remind him of things several times a day, cleaning up after him as he forgot, washing, cooking, cleaning when I get so little in return. Ive mentioned that I think we've come to the end of the road as a couple - sex is non existent, he wants it, I just dont. He said now he lost his dad he only has me as his friend - its not true but it does make me feel guilty. Day to day its fine, we get on as friends, anything more romantic I just dont want to know and im not sure if were a lost cause or if im just not trying enough.

If he was horrible to me it would be easier, but hes not. so aibu for thinking of leaving. in my shoes wwyd?

OP posts:
Springwalk · 18/05/2019 11:27

I would absolutely leave, he has been sponging of you for three whole years!

He sounds like a CL, not the nicest sweetest man, letting you carry the load for so long (anyone would be nice given he is doing precisely nothing to contribute, and yet has all the benefits) YADNBU to want out. He lost his Dad years ago. Most people have a week off, two at the most and then get on with their jobs and lives op. It is not fair on you or your child to use that as an excuse.

Line up your finances, lock up your digital life with new passwords, contact a good lawyer and ask him to leave. You deserve much more than this.

Leave with kindness, but leave. You will be infinitely better off on your own.

SoConfused2019 · 18/05/2019 12:46

Thank you for your message. The way he sees it as he helped me through university years ago and now it’s his turn.

Except through university, we didn’t have a mortgage or a house and I worked part time so his “supporting” me is probably buying a round of drinks when we went out now and then.

Why is it so hard for me to grow a back bone and just leave. Not entirely sure where I’d go but I do have a lot of savings I received as inheritance, I’d have to rent elsewhere until this house was sold but it’s doable.

I feel like I’m loosing a good friend more than my partner.

OP posts:
AtrociousCircumstance · 18/05/2019 12:48

Definitely leave. Hopefully you can get to a point where you co- parent amicably.

mbosnz · 18/05/2019 12:51

Have you told him how you're feeling?

Springwalk · 18/05/2019 12:55

Op, you don't need to move out, he does. You have a child to consider. Even now you are still thinking only of him, and his needs. He packs his stuff and finds somewhere to stay.

You don't need to go anywhere. Do the maths and see if you can stay in your home as a starting point.

As pp said, you may find a middle way of managing this on friendly terms as long as you are not losing out financially. Remember your savings are yours and for ds, not for your freeloading dp.

AtrociousCircumstance · 18/05/2019 13:01

Good point springwalk.

DulcieRay · 18/05/2019 13:04

He sounds like a wet blanket
And a selfish pathetic man child wet blanket at that

I would want to speak to him properly and maybe try counselling, but I don't think it would be unreasonable to call these "irreconcilable differences"

SoConfused2019 · 18/05/2019 13:09

I don’t know how I could kick him out, we share this house, we bought it at a very reduced rate from my parents when they split. He could easily move back in with his mum but Won’t.

We’ve spoken many times at length over the past 6 months about it and he’s even told me he feels we’ve reached the end. He has 1 more year left at uni and refuses to sell the house until then.

I’m self employed working from home and pull in basic wages each month, topped up with tax credits. If I worked a couple of days a week I could easily pay the mortgage but it’s how he would take to that plan. I don’t see him being happy at all about it!

I just hate him using anything of mine, my car for example. We shared a car when I was at uni - paid for equally, repayments, repairs and insurance. When ds was born I bought my own car and he kept the one I’d paid half towards. Fast forward a few years that car in now on the driveway not being touched, but he uses mine freely (mostly for taking ds to sports clubs) etc as it’s easier for him rather than paying for his own.

Although nothing in the grand scheme of things it’s stuff like this that irritates me immensely

OP posts:
RomanyQueen1 · 18/05/2019 13:22

What have the other 15 years been like? It is hard when you lose someone close, both me and dh have supported each other through loss.
Has it gone past the stage of talking it through, it sounds like he has lost his way a bit. Did he not consult you before giving up work?

heymacarenaay · 18/05/2019 13:43

It's not a nice sweet man. He's controlling and using you. He won't sell because he wants you to keep him while he enjoys himself. He doesn't get a choice, get legal advice and start separating finances.

Springwalk · 18/05/2019 13:51

What does it matter whether he is happy op. Why isn’t your happiness important.
He accepts you have reached the end of the road, but wants you to keep him for another year???

No, it doesn’t work like that. You lose another year of your life whilst paying for the pleasure of a dead relationship.

He leaves, he goes to his mother or elsewhere and you stay where you are. Far better for ds.
You are being taken advantage of, in every single way op.

Singlenotsingle · 18/05/2019 13:57

Is the house in joint names then? You could probably sell it anyway even if he refuses. You apply to the Court for an Order for Sale. He's definitely a CL and you shouldn't let him get away with it any longer.

SoConfused2019 · 18/05/2019 14:06

The rest of the relationship has been fine, he's always put himself before me. I can see why many of you think he is a cl right now and to a certain degree I also do - I also know him and this isn't him right now, he's not the person I met years ago, his depression and anxiety have crippled him and reduced him to someone I barely recognise. he's lost so much weight through stress and worry - and while he was doing all this I was driving for the 2 people i'd just lost also. so its fair to say most of this is resentment on my part.

He lost his job for taking to much time off to care for his dad, he found another quickly but his speed wasn't up to scratch (factory welding work), he is quite thorough and precise as a person anyway, so after this along with his dads news he Took it really hard. He stopped seeing old friends, barely speaks to family and its just me and him out days, I have my friends, he has his from uni and we never really ix with each others. I feel we've been leading separate lives for quite some time, yet deep down all I really feel is sad for him, I cant answer why my own happiness isn't important - to be honest i'm not doing so well right now and i've been bottom of the pile for so long I cant remember how to put myself back on top. I do know though I need to for Ds's sake if nothing else.

The house is in his name, at the time of purchasing we couldnt borrow that much as I was at uni but we have a contract in place to say if the relationship ended and the house was sold, my mother would be paid her share first (the part she signed over so we could use as a deposit) then it would be spilt 50/50.

Its probably for this reason I see it as his house and if I wanted out it would be me who moves, even though i've lived in this house since I was 6.

OP posts:
Springwalk · 18/05/2019 14:21

Op you can not just passively allow this to happen.
You need to care for yourself and life much more!!!

Consider buying him out if you want to stay, or selling up now.
You can’t be responsible for his mental health, he can’t drag you and your child down forever more. He has family, he had friends. He will be fine, but you can’t stay trapped.

Is he on medication and seeing a doctor for his depression?

You can’t spend your life at the bottom of the pile.

Get done legal advice quietly, make some plans and consider calling it a day.

Springwalk · 18/05/2019 14:23

I don’t say ltb lightly op, but it is clear as day you are being used.

SoConfused2019 · 18/05/2019 17:48

@springwalk Thank you for your blunt honesty. I think this is what I needed to see written down to convince myself I wasn't going mad. He says we are a partnership but I know we are not at all. I wouldn't be the one doing everything and paying for the majority of stuff if we were.

I will look at getting some legal advice this week and see where I stand and make a decision what to do next from there. thank you for replying.

OP posts:
Springwalk · 19/05/2019 11:18

I hope it wasn’t too blunt. From the outside your situation looks untenable. You stand to lose much more, the longer you leave it.
Why not change the title and post again, and get more advice from MN. Some times posts are lost on busy days, but there will be more experienced posters out there that can help.

SoConfused2019 · 19/05/2019 17:47

Thanks again, I may repost in relationships. You weren't too blunt at all, I value the honesty of an outsiders opinion.

OP posts:
Corna · 19/05/2019 18:00

Please go and get some good legal advice op, it would give you a good base to work from and perhaps some idea of how you can protect yourself and your son. He does sound like he is using you quite nicely and even though he may love you he really isnt treating you very well or with any respect for your hard work and your financial interests. Lots of people have grief and loss to deal with but he is refusing to deal like a grown up with his feelings and seek help if he needs to.

You and your son deserve better.
Best of luck.

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