Will I still be able to get half the house

[Deepblueriver]

I left my husband 9 months ago as a result of domestic abuse. I couldn’t stand it anymore so I left the family home with our baby. I only took a small bag and the pram.

I am quite scared of initiating a divorce as he hasn’t taken me to court for access to our D.C. and obviously I don’t want this. We own a lovely house which has a bit of equity in it. I did ask for maintenance but he says he can’t afford to pay it as he says he has to pay all the bills for the house now by himself and that it is unfair that I still own 50% of the house when I am not paying the bills.

If I divorce him am I likely to get my money back. I am worried about making him angry if I file for divorce and it won’t be worth it. He doesn’t know where I am and I don’t want him to know.

He can't stop you getting at least half the family assets, stop and think, you are owed this.
If he is told to pay you your share including savings and pensions, he gets x amount of time from a judge. If still not sold you can ask for it to go to auction. He doesn't have all the cards.

I haven’t put in a claim for maintenance. Of course I can’t afford not to have it but I was afraid that he would take me to court to get full custody (I know he wouldn’t get it but the stress would break me and he would get something).

I will have a chat with my lawyer. I think getting to the point where a judge has to order the house is sold by auction would break me. I can’t get legal aid (I did try) because I own a house that I don’t live in so I am classed as wealthy. If it drags on that long I will lose more money than I would ever get back. If I had signed the house over to him for nothing when I left I would have been much better off as I would have had the childcare element of universal credit and legal aid.