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Relationships

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Original poster

Legal questionsto do with the house when separated

5 replies

Hercy · 23/02/2017 06:34

Hi,
The situation is my friend is mother to 3 young children. Her and her husband of 10 years have separated. The wife and children have moved in with her parents and the husband has stayed in the house.

Legally speaking, is this a bad move (English law)? Does she need to move her and the children back into the marital home? Even if he refuses to move out? How would she go out getting him to move out (it's not exactly a permanent solution her living with her parents).

Any advice much appreciated.

OP posts:

magentafrog · 23/02/2017 11:27

Although the advice given always seems to be not to leave, when I looked into this when I may have had to do it myself as H wouldn't leave, the only reason I could find was that if you want to claim benefits you might be regarded as making yourself intentionally homeless.
Or, if you didn't take the children with you, and there was a dispute over who they live with you might be regarded as having abandoned them.
With regard to getting him to leave, there is nothing you can do if the house is jointly owned unless he has been violent/abusive. You can however force the house to be sold as part of the financial settlement. Both of these options take time, possibly a long time.

Original poster

Hercy · 23/02/2017 11:39

Thanks magentafrog, that's very helpful.

My line of thinking is that if she's seen to have another house that she can live in, that might affect the financial settlement when/if the marital house is sold (as in she has options, he doesn't), but I have no real basis for thinking this!

OP posts:

c3pu · 23/02/2017 11:41

Standard advice to anyone is NOT to leave a home that they own, in part or in full.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 23/02/2017 11:44

How would she go out getting him to move out (it's not exactly a permanent solution her living with her parents).

She can't until divorce and finances are settled.

RueDeDay · 23/02/2017 11:49

I moved out, with my DD, before the divorce was finalised. It wasn't a safe place for either of us to stay. It didn't affect my divorce settlement at all. However I wasn't planning on staying in the marital home anyway, so it wasn't a case of risking it being trashed while I was gone or anything.

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