Can't believe I'm actually asking this, but after 23 years what I'd thought was a pretty sound marriage I've come to the conclusion that the only thing I can do to save my sanity is divorce.
DH and I have been together since our mid-20s, married in our 30s, travelled a lot, had some great times. Settled down and when children didn't happen focussed on finding careers we could enjoy. In his 40s he became more temperamental and had some issues with work colleagues and was diagnosed as ADHD, which made sense of certain things. The diagnosis changed him: he'd spent a lot of time covering up and now he felt he didn't need to. Life got a lot more up and down.
Then around 14 months ago he started talking more and louder, not listening, having weird ideas — including the conviction that I was having an affair with someone else. He couldn't relax, always fidgety and increasingly anxious. It crept up slowly and came to head when he had a couple of major confrontations with people at work and made some serious errors. He was suspended and referred to occupational health, where he was offered psychiatric support which he refused. After a few weeks he resigned. I imagine they were relieved.
He's continued to get worse. He won't see a doctor or a MH professional, but he did come to couples counselling for three sessions, after which the therapist refused to carry on because she said that in her opinion, he was borderline psychotic. I think I was in denial for a long time but she was right. He's out of control. At one point he brought a homeless man home and insisted he stayed with us: it took me a week to get him out. He's blown £40k in savings, mainly his own, just giving people money. The police brought him home one afternoon after a woman saw him give her young daughter a £20 note and thought he was soliciting her.
I moved out in March and I'm sharing with a friend. He's pestered her, he thinks we're having a lesbian affair and he sometimes turns up and causes a scene. All his friends have had to block him, he's so full-on and unreasonable. The police are involved and they've been really good and have alerted social services.
I've always had my own work and savings and I own half the house, which we paid off a few years ago, so I have a lot of equity. Unfortunately in recent weeks DH has decided to 'improve' the house by painting several rooms red, ripping out the banisters, taking down the curtains and blinds and putting furniture in the front garden. The neighbours aren't happy.
Social services have visited three time and say that he's manic but not worryingly so and until he becomes a physical danger to himself or others they can't section him. The person I spoke to said she was impressed that he's eating well and looking after himself — clean, dressed appropriately. In the meantime he's ripped through the joint account we both pay into each month, and which had about £8k in it. I'm having to cover the whole Council Tax bill and utilities. I've had to talk to the bank and the Land Registry so he can't sell or give the house away without my permission.
I thought we were getting to a stage when we could think about retiring at 57 or 58. Now I feel as if I've woken up from a long delusion and I look back at some patches in our past and can see that there has been something going on for a long time. It really is time to split and move on alone. I love him but I don't want to be with him.
So my question. Has anyone else divorced in circumstances similar to this? I've spoken to one solicitor who seemed unsure about the situation with regard to DH's capacity, but admitted that this was not a situation she'd come across before. She did say it will possibly involve court intervention and could end up being very expensive. He will, I'm sure, fight it every step of the way. He denies he's ill and he won't get help. He tells everyone that I'm having an affair, I've got early onset dementia or I have a brain tumour that's making me behave strangely. How we can sell the house when he's like this I don't know. I just don't know anything at the moment. It feels like the most awful mess. If anyone has been there and come out the other side, please tell me how you did it.