Locked out

[Joke14]

My wife as changed the locks on the house even though I am the sole owner and pay the mortgage not her is this allowed

She has rights to the house. They are married.

She may not have the financial resources to pay the mortgage though.

She won't let him in because he was aggressive towards her.

@TheShellBeach If she doesn't then ultimately she will have to sell.

@StormingNorman No - she has the rights to some of the equity. They both equally own the house.

Well, it's likely that the house will have to be sold anyway, in the event of a divorce.

Not sure why her not paying the mortgage makes this more likely. You're conflating two things.

@TheShellBeach Because if she can afford the mortgage solely she can offer to buy him out.

Oh come off it, people shout at each other!

She works part time, she/they have two very young children. I am going to assume her hours are based on childcare, just as I am going to assume OPs full time hours are based on him not doing pickups or holiday or sickness caring because he is letting his wife do that shit, whether jointly agreed or not. If she has to pay the mortgage out of her small wages then the children will probably have less food to eat, or less water/electric etc.

It will be the children that suffer. Plus if he refuses to pay the mortgage and she cannot then the bank will repossess the house and both will be blacklisted credit wise.

So no. She can't pay the bloody mortgage.

@LittleGreenDragons Ultimately that's not his problem. If she can't afford to pay the mortgage she will have to sell up. When I was left with two very small children I had no choice but to increase my working hours to make ends meet.

Yes I agree with this - she'd only make allegations again. Safer to stay away from her. Do you have family who'd help you out to get legal advice?

Norman is talking about now. This month, next month. Not after legal consultation as part of the divorce.

You are talking about later in the process, which is totally different (and I agree with you). It takes months for a house to sell, how is she going to feed his kids next week if he stops paying the mortgage right now?

If that is not what Norman is saying then I apologise.

Her not having enough money available to feed the children is very much his problem, surely?

Or does the divorce mean he abdicates responsibility for his children?

@TheShellBeach Put it this way...when my ex-husband changed the locks within hours if me leaving the marital home for my own safety and that of my children, my ex-husband paid me nothing. I had to live with family until I found a private rental. I had to push up my working hours with two very small children to pay the rent. This remained the case until we went to court. He paid me nothing. I'm not saying for one second that this was morally right, but legally that was what he was entitled to do.
I lost so much weight because I stopped eating to feed the kids but again, he was allowed to get away with this. Even in court he totally screwed me over.

@LittleGreenDragons They're not "his" kids - they belong to them both equally. She will be expected to take on financial responsibility for them in exactly the same way as her ex will be expected to.

That's fine, if she can afford to keep on all the bills.

Her wants aren't necessarily what she will get. How long have you been married?

If you are the/an owner of a property you cannot be excluded except by a Court Order.

My ex wife attempted to exclude me from the former matrimonial home after she had moved out to live with her next boyfriend. Caused no end of odure including by all accounts a shouting match with what became her ex solicitors.

If you cant afford a solicitor The Police may be able to help you move back in

see

https://www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/housing-homelessness-and-landlords/homelessness/homelessness-prevention-guide/relationship-broken-down.aspx#:~:text=If%20your%20partner%20does%20not,in%20without%20a%20court%20order.

But basically you CANT be excluded without a Court Order and she wont necessarily get 50% on a divorce, as her new mans income may fall to be taken into account

Marriage doesn’t impact on ownership. So he is the sole legal owner regardless of being married.
BUT a) wife has matrimonial home rights, ie the right to occupy and b) family court can redistribute property no matter who owns it.

Go to court and push for sale - sounds very unreasonable for her to ask to stay till the kids are 18 if both of you can rehouse with the proceeds.

Sounds like a toxic atmosphere and I’d probably move out temporarily while pushing for sale and division of proceeds.

even though I am the sole owner and pay the mortgage

But if you're married, you're not necessarily "sole owner" in the case of a property settlement on divorce.

And people aren't generally arrested and bailed for nothing.

It’s not fine if it means the OP is kept out of his share of the equity until the kids are 18 and there’s currently enough for her to rehouse. It’s a total myth that courts always let mums keep the house til 18 - it’s literally only if there is no other option to house the kids.

On marriage if, as in my case one party is the sole owner of the matrimonial home, the partner can aquire rights towards it so it is a 'chose in action' ie they can go to court to enforce those rights BUT dont get them automatically.

EG Couple marry, house in Mr's name. Mrs goes bankrupt but the Creditors dont have any rights against the house as its his.

If they divorce, as happened to a woman I know he was able to make a claim against the FMH despite the fact she owned it outright at the time of the marriage

I’m sorry you’re going through this.

A similar thing happened with my sister and her husband but it was rented accommodation, so I don’t have any advice.

Although it was my sister who created the argument and was the one in the wrong, the police took my sisters side.
So I would be very careful about going to the house or contacting her too much, else you’ll just be seen as the bad person even more so.

Are you in contact with her?

If not I would write her a letter and tell her that as she’s kicked you out of your home then you will not be paying the mortgage and you’ll be selling the house so you have somewhere to live.

It is then up to her whether she wants to buy your half of the house off you or sell up and split it.

In the letter I would ask to see your kids but if she says no then you might have to wait until you sell the home and get money.
Which is completely unfair but I doubt you’ll be eligible for legal aid.

This is not going to get better overnight.

Not quite. Marriage doesn’t affect legal ownership - he could still get a mortgage against the house or sell it (although any buyer or bank would want an occupying spouse to sign a waiver before doing so).

A spouse has a right to occupy any property that is the marital home and owned by their spouse.

The family court can make any orders in respect of property owned either jointly or solely. So in that sense, it doesn’t matter who owns it because on divorce it all gets put in the pot and divided. But marriage itself doesn’t give you ownership rights because we don’t have community of property law in this country.

Perhaps he wasn’t aggressive? The charges were dropped and police are rigorous on DV these days.

You’re making a lot of assumptions. Her parents have been pretty vocal, perhaps they can chip in.

You sound terribly bitter.