DP distant since we had baby

[aussiesummer]

I've been with DP ten years. We were high school sweethearts. We got married last year and have a nine month old son together. Since DS came along things have changed and I'm worried about where we are heading. I have tried discussing it with DP but he is keen to assure me all is fine.

He is staying late at work more and more. He has quite a high powered job and always has done a fair amount of overtime but now it is most nights instead of perhaps a couple of times a week. Pre DS he used to be keen for us to have 'quality time' together at weekends and would rarely go out without me. Now he is out almost every Saturday without fail, drinking with friends and sometimes work mates. He will come home in the early hours and on two occasions has not come home at all. When I called him his phone was switched off. When he eventually arrived home he claimed his battery was dead and he had been so drunk he crashed at a friends house for which he apologised profusely. Same excuse both times. The most recent time was last weekend.

I don't think he's cheating. He absolutely abhors people who cheat and I do trust him. But I don't feel like we're a proper family or that he wants to be around us which really hurts. We still have not started having sex regularly again since DS was born and I think this has pushed him away but however hard I try I can't re-establish the connection we had.

Perfect storm is right i'm afraid

He was never keen on getting married but did it to appease me when I found out I was pregnant.

Was the pregnancy planned or a surprise?

You need to get back to work, pronto.

If he refuses to go to relationship counselling, you need to do the following.

See a solicitor to clarify your legal and financial situation.

Also, you need to stop thinking you are married, as you are not, legally.

Also, you need to grow some balls and lay it on the line, and get a mediated separation.

Best of luck to you.

Ten years relationship is not a failure, and you've still got a little boy, but you are up shit creek without a paddle.

His behaviour is so far out of the ballpark of normal, it's unreal, in fact I thought this was a wind up.

The others are right. Start looking after yourself (and DC) by finding out your rights.

Do you really see yourself living like this for the next X nr. of years?

He sounds awful. And like he has a madonna/whore complex.

Whose name is the house in? Joint, or his? And can you prove mortgage contributions in the past?

Quote "I have tried discussing it with DP but he is keen to assure me all is fine."

It's not fine. You're not fine. He can't assure you that "all is fine" because you're not fine so what he is actually doing is telling you to shut up.

When he "married" you to appease you did he take care of you in other more legal ways - ie provide for you/DS should the worst happen (wills/insurances/next of kin etc)?

Are the important things always on his terms?

Agree with perfectstorm 100% - you have been put into an extremely vulnerable position and he has seen to it that he is holding all the cards.

You need to take immediate steps to protect yourself and your DC!

He told me from the start that he didn't want to get married and I was ok with it when it was only the two of us. When I found out I was pregnant (unplanned) I changed my mind. He refused to budge so the symbolic thing was a compromise. In my mind we are married and I wasn't aware of the legal implications of not being properly married? I thought because we have a child and I have contributed to the mortgage in the past that that was good enough. Seems that might not be the case?

perfectstorm that's more or less how I feel. Like a free nanny and housekeeper. I've said it to him too but nothing I say seems to register. I'm fed up of being the only one who puts in any effort.

I'm home alone right now waiting for him to get in. Was supposed to be someone's leaving do and "a few drinks after work". The first I heard of it was when I text to ask when he would be home. He called at 12.30 saying he was getting a taxi home but no sign of him yet. I guess I have to face facts that he either has some kind of drink problem or there is someone else. But whenever that thought enters my head I feel I'm betraying him by thinking the worst. I didn't want to entertain the idea but this is happening more and more frequently. What a shitty situation.

You aren't betraying him by thinking that - he's forcing you to wonder why he is spending every evening and several nights away from the family home!

You need to polish off the CV. Seriously. You do. And you need to look into what retraining or temping you might do to break back in, if your field is crowded and work thin on the ground.

I have to ask again: before you had DS, did you help with the mortgage and if so, is there a paper trail? Better yet, is the property in both your names? If you aren't married, those things really, really matter.

I think it sounds like he's checked out emotionally. I'm really sorry, but I do. So you need to set out what you need to do to ensure you and DS are housed, fed and cared for, and that means working asap, and establishing if you have any claim on any of the equity in the home.

There is a gulf between the legal rights and obligations of married couples to one another, and unmarried. Basically the former are considered to have all assets in common if they split, and if they're not, they're treated as though they were just two random people. The relationship is not a factor in any property division. It's a mess, because most people assume a long relationship and kids mean "common law marriage". There is no such thing.

If you contributed to the mortgage and can prove it then yes, you're in a stronger position as far as I know, because that would usually indicate a mutual intention that you should thereby gain some sort of share of the house. My advice would be to seek a free initial half hour with two good local solicitors to find out what your rights are, should the worst happen.