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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

husband decided he wants to end relationship and move out

80 replies

mummyalways · 05/08/2015 11:39

Im a bit numb at the moment and not sure where to turn. My husband of 11 years has decided to end our relationship and move out. We have two beautiful children ages 8 and 6. We moved to Norfolk from London a year ago for his job, i had to quit mine but we decided me staying at home would be a good choice as i wanted more time with the children after missing out on so much and he encouraged this choice, it was a really big step as we had no family or friends here, i found a job working with children just 2 hours a day which helped go towards the bilss but was really just so i could keep busy. We are very happy here we bought a lovely house and our quality of life is much better than before and i thought we were happy. It became apparent a couple of months ago that he was not getting on with his boss - he hates to talk about work with me so i dont know the details, always says he needs to switch off when he gets home.
He came to me and said he had been offered a job back in london that was too good of an opportunity to turn down, it was a lot more money and he said it was only monday to friday so he could come home on the weekends, after much talk i agreed he needed to be happy in his job and if this was what he needed to do i would support it as long as he came home at the weekends.
He found a room to let and has been there for two months, hes been distant so i put this down to being away from us for a week at a time. The last month he says to make a good impression he has had to stay and work weekends which was not great but i had to be ok with this. Last week i going through our bank statements i found £50 spent on flowers, i casually mentioned this to him but he said they were for a client and i didn't make a fuss and laughed off my suspicion and joked because he never buys me flowers as he doesn't agree with money being spent on them. Hes been rushing through our phone call in the evening because he has to take out clients for dinners - i would understand this but he been going out alot and the frequency doesn't fit with the norm of his job. i realise i must be sounding like a jealous wife and i guess i was being but i didn't voice this to him just silently had the arguments in my head.
We have been happy no real arguments at all - my suspicions surfaced because he has been unfaithful before something he would never admit to but i had all the evidence, i did decided to stay with him because i loved him and wanted to try for the children.
So last friday he sends me a txt message (i know, coward after 11 years a text msg) completely out of the blue saying he just not happy anymore and wants to move out, i was numb with shock and then angry when he wouldn't answer the phone. He just sent me more messages telling me there was no point talking..i mean how am i supposed to know what i've done wrong!!! i tried to access his online banking (i do this all the time so i can transfer money to my account as all the household bills come out of my account) but he had changed the passwords. i messaged him to ask him to put the money for the bills into my account as they had already come out and i was going into my overdraft. mine and his savings stay in his (i know stupid mistake on my part but its been this way 11 years). He said he was not going to transfer money because he needed to save to find somewhere of his own to live and that i needed to seek advice on claiming benefits. im honestly at a loss, im heartbrken and im so angry now all the tears have gone, i save them for bedtime :( i have no family or good friends here and im embarrassed to call them. i guess im hoping he having some sort of mid life crisis and will change his mind and that really he has not been cheating on me.

OP posts:
hellsbellsmelons · 05/08/2015 15:55

So he pays the mortgage and he keeps the house while you pay for everything else and get nothing at the end of it!?
Brilliant - he really doesn't have a clue.
It's not up to HIM to keep the house or not.
He has chosen to leave the family home so it's now up to you what you want to do with it.
Don't rush this decision though. Get legal advice first.
Do you have equity in the property?
If so then you are entitled to a minimum of 50% of said equity.
A good solicitor will get you more based on the fact that you are resident parent to his 2 children.

They do get cold. Don't forget, he 'left' the relationship a while ago. This is all totally raw for you.
Don't get suckered in though.
My ExH was going to keep paying the mortgage. 8 months in he decided he didn't have enough money to pay it and just stopped paying anything.
No child maintenance, no nothing.
He moved abroad and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.
I had to manage totally on my own. Make sure you have a back up if anything like that should happen to you.
I would try to get the property sold and equity out if you are in a position to do such a thing.
You may want to be near family and friends which means a move anyway so he can't 'keep' the house in those circumstances.
He is a prize twat of highest order.
Please now get some RL support. Family, friends, his relatives. Everyone should know.
Do NOT keep his dirty secret for him.
He doesn't deserve your loyalty. You don't have his!
That is the worst thing I ever did. Not telling people straight away.
I kept it all in and carried it all myself.
The relief when I told people was immense. Don't deny yourself the support you will need. Get everyone to rally round.

DrMorbius · 05/08/2015 16:00

OP - as whatyouseeiswhatyouget says, unless he overwhelmingly proves to the contrary. Deal with him as if he is the world's biggest lying b***d, who wants to screw you and your DC's over. Don't even assume he cares for the DC's. Don't offer any informaiton to him. Accept nothing he says as true.

Another great peice of advice I saw on here is, all assumptions, all agreements (spoken or tacit) are now null and void. You do not have to be the primary carer for the DC's. That was an arrangement you had as a couple. As is where you live etc. Potentially they could change, if you want it to. It doesn't hurt to point this out to him.

Ask him what he intends to do for childcare if you get a job?

peggyundercrackers · 05/08/2015 16:03

I would agree with chanson in that you don't need to agree to anything he has told you - go and find a good solicitor and get some good legal advice. he can come to Norfolk to see the kids if he wants I guess but he doesn't have to stay at the house, tell him to go and find a hotel he can stay at.

inlectorecumbit · 05/08/2015 16:05

I would be letting family and friends know just what a cowardly bastard he is by forwarding his "dumping" text to them all.
I hope you have good RL support with you right now. Please listen to all the good advice upthread.
He really is a bastard

TaliZorahVasNormandy · 05/08/2015 16:06

Is it possible to move back closer to friends and family?

SlaggyIsland · 05/08/2015 16:13

Get legal advice asap. He is such a liar. He is trying to royally shaft you and your children presumably so he can spend the money on himself and his new shag.
Get angry. He's despicable.

HelsBels3000 · 05/08/2015 16:19

I'm so sorry. Flowers
I got the rage reading your post - what an absolute tosspot.

LivingTheDr3am · 05/08/2015 16:22

Get help from family and friends. People will surprise you in a good way. Sorry that you and your kids are having to go through this.

wannaBe · 05/08/2015 16:30

op, you do need legal advice ASAP but in the meantime you are in the preferencial position even though it may not seem like it at the time.

Due to the fact that he was the one who moved away to work and has now left, means that you are free to move to wherever you want because you are not tied to that area because of a need for contact iyswim.

Firstly the mortgage. If there is any equity in the property you will be able to insist on your half of it, or whatever proportion is agreed but it would be a minimum of half, and this could be achieved either by selling the house, or your dh buying you out, at which point you will come off the mortgage and will be free to move on and he can do with the house what he wants. Whether you move out now or not won't affect your entitlement to the equity, and given that this is a relatively new house to you it's unlikely that you would be able to remain there until the dc are eighteen. And considering you moved there for your dh I wouldn't want to pursue that anyway.

Secondly, access. I agree that the dc still have a right to contact with their father, however he has now lost the right for that contact to be in your home. Therefore I would take away that opportunity from him by taking control. Do you have a good relationship with your parents? If so I would be inclined to go and stay with them for a few days/weeks, and I would contact h and say "yes, you are welcome to see the kids at the weekend. You can collect them from my parents at 10:00 on Saturday morning and bring them back on Sunday." As it's your parents' house I'd imagine he will very firmly get the message that his staying or even entering will not be on the cards.

And in the meantime go and see a solicitor, go and see CAB and see what you are entitled to, and then decide where you want to live. You don't have to stay where you are any more, you are free to move back to where you have a support network, and given that it's the summer holidays this is the optimum time for your dc if they are at school.... And if not, children are flexible and adaptable. :-)

ImperialBlether · 05/08/2015 16:36

Someone said he's not your friend and they're right; he is your enemy now, OP, like it or not. Anyone who can behave like this is going to be a really bad enemy, too.

Please don't think you want him back. Would you really want a man who could do this to his wife and children?

Don't try to keep this a secret now and tell him to fuck off with seeing the children this weekend - this is going to take them a while to come to terms with.

Btw do you really think now there isn't another woman? I think he knew her before he moved to London and that's why he was working there. How awful for you - I'm so sorry.

Fairylea · 05/08/2015 16:49

Op I'm so sorry. This happened almost word for word to me many years ago now - even to the fact we had relocated from London to Norfolk! Now ex decided he'd had enough and went back to an ex he'd had before me, leaving me with 26k worth of debt and no money (I'd also just been made redundant! ) I ended up downsizing and getting a minimum wage job for 16 hours a week as that's all there was. Loneliest and most miserable time of my life. He promised to transfer money into my account and the first month he did and then he said he couldn't afford to anymore... and then he literally vanished off the face of the earth and neither dd nor I have heard from him since.

Please go and see a solicitor and get proper advice and hold on to the fact he is a twat and you don't deserve this.

I am now in a much better place - remarried and have another child now. Very happy. I would never have thought that. You will get through this.

Stormtreader · 05/08/2015 16:49

Solicitor for financial advice, right away, and tell everyone what's happened and what he's done, people tend to believe the first explanation of a situation that they hear, regardless of how much evidence can be produced later - its a weird human quirk.

You're in the strongest position you will ever be in about this, the longer you leave it, the more chance he has to get his version of things out there and to arrange his financial/business situation to try and make it inaccessible to you. As his wife, thats an automatic 50% of all assets. As the resident parent, theres another allowance for that, I think ive heard 65% be mentioned on here before, including things like a part of his pension?

Its like they tell you for salary negotiations, you have to start off shooting for the absolute maximum you could dream of because you'll get bartered down along the way.

florentina1 · 05/08/2015 17:04

Do you have a joint account, if so you can register it a 'dispute account' which will stop him emptying it completely.

FeckTheMagicDragon · 05/08/2015 17:15

Also - is the house in joint names? I would be suspicious at his 'do not talk to the mortgage co' he at be planning on remortageing it to the hilt to grab any equity. If that's the case you need to register an interest in the property asap.

nj32 · 05/08/2015 17:27

I also agree with Whatyousee, he is no longer the person you thought he was, he will act coldly towards you. Also please seek legal advise particularly regarding the house. He can't just have it as he says. I have been married the same length of time as you and my children are the same age. I am 4 months in and it does get easier but it is a rollercoaster. I found out 6 wks after he left that my h was living with living another woman. He also won't discuss things with me and denies anything happened before. He has introduced the ow to my children which has devastated me but I am hoping that is the worst it can get. Please get help from people in real life, it will help you through the low times. All the best x

SailorBobsGrog · 05/08/2015 17:27

DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING

I REPEAT DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING HE PUTS IN FRONT OF YOU EVEN IF ITS A BIRTHDAY CARD without legal advice, its sounds as though he's at the point already.

Ohfourfoxache · 05/08/2015 17:46

Get all your documents together - birth certificates, bills, bank statements, passports. Hide them and keep them safe.

Solicitor immediately - many will do free half hour sessions. Be clever - visit as many as you can, getting as much advice as you can by "building" on previous visits to other solicitors iyswim.

I'm so sorry you're going through this. Keep talking xx

AliceDoesntLiveHereAnymore · 05/08/2015 18:09

Here's a number... 0808 8020 008. It's for the Coram Children's Legal Centre. Mon-Fri 8am to 8pm. Free solicitor advice. You'll have to keep ringing to get through, as they don't generally do callbacks, so allow yourself plenty of time.

They can at least get you started - you can still ring them tonight up until 8pm.

NoImSpartacus · 05/08/2015 18:22

Fuck me, OP, what a solid gold cunt you have been married to.

I actually can't quite blv what an utter pig he is being to you, and I have read some pretty shitty stuff on here, but your H, OP, words fail me.

You sound lovely too.

You will feel utterly numb and sick right now, but you will be ok, I promise, the women on here will be an amazing support, as usual, and you will find an inner strength you didnt know you had, and you WILL get through this. Look after yourself, fight your corner armed with all the great advice given above, and to come, and don't let this utter loser get away with this despicable, cowardly behaviour.

Flowers
maybebabybee · 05/08/2015 18:29

OP I am so sorry this has happened to you. I cannot imagine what you must be feeling.

I second previous posters - you have to get cynical about him, and fast. Go with the facts and assume he is a lying, cheating cunt and will absolutely screw you over. My mum made the mistake of not doing this with my Dad as she assumed after 20+ years together he would still care about her or us, and as a result she ended up with no money and no house.

Please do get support IRL, whether from family or friends, get yourself to a solicitor ASAP.

And keep talking here, MN is a great source of support.

clearingaspaceforthecat · 05/08/2015 18:36

I am so sorry he has done this to you.
Agree with others - He is not your friend. Do not trust anything he says. Do not discuss anything financial with him anymore. Do not agree to anything. All contact with him regarding finances should be through your solicitor.
Please tell someone so you have some emotional support. Again, he is not a friend to you so try to resist contacting him to try to talk things over.

It may be difficult for a while, but you will get through this xx

catsrus · 05/08/2015 19:05

I agree with do NOT SIGN ANYTHING and he is not your friend. Please get legal advice asap.

HawkEyeTheNoo · 05/08/2015 19:42

Some great advice here mummy, I second it all! I have the total rage at this dick of a man! Can you give me his number so I can phone him and tell him he is a c*nt?!?? Phone your support network immediately and tell them what he has done, you are innocent in all this and they will help support you through this

paddymcgintysmum · 05/08/2015 19:51

Your mind must be all over the place at present, but as you love the quality of life in Norfolk, that must mean the children and schooling too, you have twelve years to gain the family home as your own.

Ask your solicitor about a mesher order, where you keep the FMH until the youngest is 18 then it is sold. Sold being to you if you want it and can afford his share which could be as low as 30%, I'll explain further down.

You may not think there are work opportunities in Norfolk, but you've been living in the family bubble, where he works and you work at home.

Now you're hungry and may see opportunities that didn't exist before. You could even consider being self employed.

I said likely 70% of the FMH, (former marital home) as you gave up a career in London for your husband and now find it difficult to gain employment. You tried and only managed a few hours a week. I'd go for 75% and expect it reduced.

If you want to stay there you have 12 years to stash cash. From you working, and a small mortgage. If you want the children to be happy and stable in Norfolk, it may be doable.

The alternative is to sell the FMH and return to City schools.

Ivegottogo · 05/08/2015 19:57

Contact the CMS now and start the ball rolling to ensure he pays you child maintenance. That is really easy to do. I was in shock when exh left and for some reason didn't do this for a long time even though he was paying nothing.

Don't rely on him paying the mortgage. I agree with pp, make sure you can pay everything if he disappears/gives up his job/doesn't play ball as you can only rely on yourself in a situation like this.

There is no way he can keep the house. Why would you agree to that?

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