Okay, this is for my sister.
Last May her husband of 7 years decided he no longer wanted to be with her and suggested a separation. She was devastated and had no idea it was coming.
They have 2 children together (4 & 2 years old). They both have their own businesses and share the mortgage. The house is one owned by my sister before they met, but they've both contributed to the mortgage.
To cut a long story short they reconciled and everything seemed to be going well when she discovered he had at that time been involved with someone else and wa still in contact. He denied a physical relationship, but has since admitted it wasn't innocent.
She has had enough and told him she didn't want him anymore and shortly after their separation has met someone else (it's early days, but she seems happy).
She initially moved to my mum's because he was constantly harrassing her around the house. He didn't go to work for 2 weeks, just sat around the house arguing with her or watching her every move. She felt uneasy and needed some space, he wouldn't leave so she did, but my mum lives nearly an hour away and childcare/nursery/work made this situation difficult.
They agreed he could have unrestricted access to the children (pre-arranged) but that he would reside temporarily with his mother (locally) to allow the children's routine to return. He has always worked long hours, never taken a role in the children's care and my sister felt that her eldest was beginning to find the father in the home all the time a strange and unsettling occurrence.
He has, as he did with his 1st wife/divorce, transferred the business and assets into someone else's name so that it appears he does not own anything or earn a wage (father I think). She's not bothered about this at all, doesn't expect a penny from him, just wants rid of him and to stay in the home. He did originally try to buy her out (borrowed money from his father), took pictures of all the furniture etc, but on her family's advice has decided to try and figure out how to afford to stay in the home herself.
See she used to have a small mortgage, but remortgaged to give him money to put into his business, which he has since folded and set up once more in an employee's name, so technically he owns nothing.
Being a control freak that he is he has decided he can't live without, has left suicide notes and disappeared for days, followed her when she has been out. He has admitted to sending his bf round at 2am to see if another man was at the home. He has also admitted to 3 separate occasions where he watched her from the back fence to see if she had anyone there.
He has continually bombarded her with texts/calls where he seems to swing from nasty/vindictive to sobbing/expressing undying love for her.
She has kept the notes/texts etc.
It's now 2 months later and he has decided he will file for divorce citing adultery on her behalf! He has been to see a solicitor who has advised him to move back into the family home, but he is prone to fibs, so she doesn't know if this is either true or possible.
She thinks it's because she will only answer his texts and calls if it's to do with the kids and he is furious that she has met someone else.
She was frightened he would come in the middle of the night into the house, when he was ranting at her and ringing my mum constantly saying he was going to kill himself and if he couldn't have my sister no one would etc etc, so she had the locks changed, but he is not aware of this yet.
Where does she go from here? Does she have the right to tell him he cannot return to the marital home? Is she better to seek a solicitors advice herself to check out what he is saying? Is there a way in which she can halt any move back into the marital home whilst they divorce, say?
Sorry it's so long.