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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

To move in, or not to move in?

56 replies

jenrose29 · 27/02/2012 22:05

Apologies as this is long, but feel it is best to explain everything in the initial post to get the best responses!

My partner and I have been together for 2.5 years, we met a couple of months after splitting from our respective husband and wife. He has two kids aged 4 and 5 and I have a 4 year old. My ex husband was abusive and when I met my partner, he offered that I rent his house as he was moving from the area to a different house and his wife had moved to a different house with a new partner. My daughter and I moved in and were very relieved to be away from my ex husband, but a few days later my partners wife began entering the house when we weren't there, leaving abusive notes, taking away the curtains, turning off the water/electric, rifling through our things etc. She gave him a lot of grief and we had to move back in with my ex husband/her father who then continued to be extremely abusive until we managed to get a place in a hostel a few months later.

In the meantime, my partners wife demanded the full amount of child maintenance each month and he paid it, despite having the kids for half the time. He also continued to pay the £800 mortgage on the house. She would be very abusive about me (despite being the one that cheated on him and left him!) and he would never defend me. My daughter and I eventually were able to get our own house and we moved to the area my partner was living in, around 30 miles away. My partners wife did several nasty things, like reporting me for benefit fraud when I first got out of the hostel and was getting back on my feet, she reported him to the police for paedophilia for taking a picture of the kids in the bath, she stopped him seeing them for 5 months for no apparent reason (he did nothing), then reduced contact to one night every six weeks, she moved house twice without telling him, she sent him a text listing the ten people she could remember (!) cheating on him with during their marriage and so on. She continued to be nasty to/about me. Again, no defence from him.

Despite all this, our relationship was going fantastically and we began to consider having a baby. He had been saying that he would start divorce proceedings once they'd been separated for 2 years as that makes things easier. The two year mark passed in September, which is the month I happened to fall pregnant. He was very happy that we were having a baby of our own, but months passed and he made no progress with the divorce. She piled debts on to him and he paid them, she made unreasonable demands regarding about the kids and he did it etc. He then said it would be his new years resolution to get divorced. Now we're nearly in March, I'm 7 months pregnant and he has done nothing.

At the moment my daughter and I are still in our own house, my partner is due to move into a new rented property next month and we were due to move in with him. However, I am having second thoughts. His wife has done so much to be spiteful and as long as they are still married she can still do more - like putting more debts on him, filing for spousal maintenance etc. My daughter and I are finally secure in our own home and if we were to move in with him, I don't feel like we would be anymore as at any point his wife could do something spiteful. My partner cannot afford to support my daughter and I as he pays so much in child maintenance for his/their debts, so effectively if his wife did something to cause him to have to pay out more money, he would be okay as he could live in work accomodation but my daughter, our baby and I would be homeless again.

Every time I bring the divorce up, he says he will get it sorted, but he doesn't. He has gone from having the kids half the time, to once every six weeks and has done nothing. His wife has lived in six different houses since they separated, most recently moving this month without giving him the address, you guessed it- he's done nothing. His wife regularly leaves it to the day of arranged contact before letting him know if he's getting one/both of the kids so my daughter never knows what's going on/we can never make any plans. He suspects one/both of the children may not even be his biologically as a result of how many affairs/one night stands his wife had, but does he do anything...? Of course not. I just feel like his life is one long cycle of putting things off, and I don't want to live like that. I don't understand why he doesn't just get the divorce and kids sorted so he can have some kind of order in his life, instead of living at his wifes beck and call forever. Am I being unreasonable? Would I be silly to move in, or am I worrying too much?

OP posts:
ImperialBlether · 27/02/2012 22:09

Oh god, OP, was now really the best time to get pregnant? You need someone you can rely on and I don't think you can rely on your boyfriend.

squeakytoy · 27/02/2012 22:12

I think you are completely insane to be bringing a baby into this mess, but you are and the baby is going to be your responsibility, because this dithering fool will be absolutely no use to you or your child. :(

So there you have my opinion. Yes you would be silly to move in, and no, you certainly are not worrying too much.

ImperialBlether · 27/02/2012 22:16

What squeakytoy said.

kodachrome · 27/02/2012 22:16

I would not move in with him until these things are sorted.

Your child's ( and potential dc's) security is too important.

Everything should be fairly explicable & easy to talk about. If they're not and you already know you will find his habit of putting things off will drive you mad, then it needs to be sorted. Don't commit to something you already know won't work. Talk and talk a load more.

zookeeper · 27/02/2012 22:16

I wouldn't move in with him; keep your independence or now at least. Your relations sounds as though it hasn't a hope in hell whilst he's still so embroiled with his ex.

Doha · 27/02/2012 22:45

Bloody hell. Don't move in with him.
He needs to sort out divorce and financial afairs with his first family before you should even consider moving in with him.
He needs to man up and grow a pair...

Smum99 · 27/02/2012 22:56

Don't move in with him. I would say to most people that you can't really have a relationship until the finances, marriage, children's contact have been sorted out. Otherwise there will be 3 of you in the relationship - which is what is happening to you now.

His lack of action is a warning to you - he is not motivated to sever the links with his ex..I'm not sure why that this, maybe you know?

jenrose29 · 27/02/2012 23:04

It's nothing about severing the links with his ex, he is just unmotivated and not confrontational in the slightest. I just don't understand how you can not be motivated enough when it comes to your kids - i.e. the ones he's already got that he's missing out on and the one on the way that he's going to miss out on if he carries on the way he is. He puts it like I'm letting her spoil our relationship if I don't move in, that I'm stopping him from living with his baby (he doesn't say it as nastily as I've made that sound) and just sees himself as helpless and hard done by.

OP posts:
Doha · 27/02/2012 23:15

Sounds like he needs a kick up the a**e.
He sounds pathetically weak and trying to make you feel guily.
I would ask him to stay away until it is sorted because at this rate things will continue indefinatly.
What is this hold his ex has over him? why is he so afraid of her? He could easily take her to court for contact anf to sort out maintainence. Sounds like he either can't be arsed to do it or doesn't want to do it for some reason.
The only person who would spoil him having a relationship with your baby is himself....

HepHep · 27/02/2012 23:16

What Smum said. Been there, done that. Horrible.

izzyizin · 27/02/2012 23:25

Re his non-existent divorce proceedings, he's been feeding you a load of old codswallop.

He could have divorced his wife several times over for her adultery or unreasonable behaviour during the past 2.5 years, but as he didn't file within 6 months of discovering her adultery this specific cause for divorce is now off the table.

He can now file for divorce citing 2 years separation but if he goes go down this route, she'll have to consent - which, on the basis of what you've said, is unlikely.

If she doesn't consent and he doesn't get his act together to file for divorce citing her unreasonabe behaviour, he can divorce her after 5 years without her consent.

Sounds as if he needs to grow some a backbone and, until such time as he does, you are best advised to put any plans to move in with him on hold.

jenrose29 · 27/02/2012 23:49

I know he could have divorced her a long time ago, it wouldn't have been on adultery as it's difficult to prove but the reason doesn't really matter. She has even asked him to divorce her before but he didn't do anything! The only hold I guess his ex has over him is the kids, but as I said, he has let her reduce his contact time from over 50% to nothing for 5 months to one night every six weeks at most. The kids then come going on about how he is still married to their mummy and how she can't work and is poor because he left them and took all their money...! He lets his ex get away with whatever she wants and she knows it and exploits it. He believes that when the kids are older they'll pick to live with him so less contact for now is okay, but I think he is kidding himself. His daughter gets fed so much rubbish by her mum that he does nothing to counteract that he is going to end up with no relationship with them if he isn't careful. I had three years of 'hanging in there' with my ex husband hoping he'd change and things would improve and I'm not prepared to do that again with my kids suffering in the meantime. They deserve to have a normal stable family home, and if that's with just me then so be it I think.

OP posts:
suburbophobe · 27/02/2012 23:56

Don't move in with him.

You need a place for you and DC and the new baby.

izzyizin · 27/02/2012 23:59

if that's with just me then so be it I think

At least your head is screwed on the right way, honey!

As *Doha^ has said, the only person who would spoil him having a relationship with your baby is himself and it is to be hoped that once his new dc arrives, he'll step up to the plate, divorce the liabiity that is his current 'wife', and fight for his other dc.

jenrose29 · 28/02/2012 20:55

Well I thought he may have considered that when I told him we were pregnant 7 months ago! But we shall see. He was moaning today about us not living together yet he still thinks we'll be moving in together before the baby arrives. I have told him my issues and he still says I am 'letting his wife win' and that she can't touch us once we're living together...

OP posts:
TooEasilyTempted · 28/02/2012 21:13

Don't move in with him.

And make sure you get his name on the birth certificate.

I envisage so many problems for you, trying to get any money out of him once your child is born. Let's hope he doesn't start questioning the paternity of your unborn child at some point in the future like he has with his first two children. Hmm

Because quite honestly he sounds like a complete dickhead and I actually don't believe the half of what he's told you.

jenrose29 · 28/02/2012 21:20

Don't believe what? Unfortunately his wife really is that bad and he does have very real reason to doubt the paternity of his kids.

OP posts:
allaboutthename · 28/02/2012 21:23

Arghhh, he's talking about "letting his wife win", yet you are having a baby, it doesn't feel right, he shouldn't still have a wife. I know you feel as if he is committed to you but from the outside it doesn't seem like it. Judge a man by his actions not his words. Can you imagine how he would react if you were still married to an ex, yet having his child?

I get what you say about confrontation but he would deal with the divorce if he felt motivated..he has had enough time. He isn't motivated or motivated enough

rightchoice · 28/02/2012 21:31

Don't move in.

You are having second thoughts for very good reasons, trust that well honed instinct for self preservation.

If he moans about not living together, ask him to think about it and work out not why you won't, but why you would!

jenrose29 · 28/02/2012 21:38

The problem is, there are lots of reasons to move in - i.e. that we are very happy, that my daughter adores him and would love to live with him, that it would be better for the baby to live with him, that we wouldn't have to go between two houses to spend time together etc. The only reason not to move in is what potential problems his wife could cause, but based on how previously nasty/spiteful/vindictive she has been, I can foresee her causing as many as she possibly can!

OP posts:
rightchoice · 28/02/2012 21:46

Good enough reason then. Stay put.

DoMeDon · 28/02/2012 21:47

It sounds like he has had areal job done on him by his ex. His spirit sounds a bit crushed- like he cannot fight for what he wants/needs or deserves. He needs to see it is buck up or get out time. Can you go to relate? He nees to find a way to show you how importnat his new fanily is and to find his back bone again.

something2say · 28/02/2012 21:51

Keep your finances separate until he is clear of her and knows his financial score.

I beg you. You need financial safety, and if you cannot rely on him to assist with that, you must provide it yourself. Let him drive 30 miles to come and see you and when he gets pissed off, say you won't live with another woman's husband.

jenrose29 · 28/02/2012 22:01

Yes his ex was awful to him and continues to be but I think it is just his personality that he will not fight against it. If he hasn't fought for his kids, then what more is there to fight for?

I agree about the finances, even though he earns at least £20,000 more than me per year he has no spare money because of the debts and maintenance payments and I have bought everything for the baby so far. I am not asking him to support us completely but if she did cause something to go wrong, then I am not prepared my daughter, the baby and I to be homeless as no doubt he would go along with whatever was the least hassle for him.

OP posts:
something2say · 28/02/2012 22:12

Exactly. One of the most vulnerable times for a woman imo is when she has young babies, and if you can manage alone now with whatever you have coming in yourself, then dont put that at risk. Let him come and stay. Let you watch his actions financially and bollock-wise. Is he going to sort himself out or are you going to slowly lose respect for him and than your lucky stars you didnt suddenly have to start financially supporting him when she gets stuck in again, or runs up that debt or that card etc.