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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

Affair/separation - DH has asked me to leave. Do I go?

428 replies

runningLou · 03/07/2017 21:06

To avoid drip feeding will not spare the details.
Unhappily married. I was caught cheating 4 years ago. Tried to mend everything for sake of kids. Didn't work, both very unhappy and with MH issues.
I recently met someone. Told DH I wanted to separate. We had discussed 'bird-nesting' with me staying over some nights to be with DC overnight. We want to keep the family home for the kids if possible.
DH has said tonight he wants me out. Every night, and basically told me I had made my choice and to move in with OM.
Don't want to do this - too soon, bad for kids, bad for everyone, I think.
Also I do not want to be the Mummy that leaves, and that is what it will look like to them.
Can I persist in staying? Am I right that me leaving and taking all my stuff (DH wants it gone) will be more distressing for kids?
Financially could just about manage to rent a room somewhere nearby so thinking of doing this. My idea is to come in every morning to do their breakfast, and stay every night till after bedtime. This is what we have been doing the past couple of weeks since we first talked and it has worked ok ... I thought.
House is in joint names, as are all savings.

OP posts:
user1471545174 · 04/07/2017 06:43

What a deeply insensitive OP.

Poor husband.

superfluffyanimal · 04/07/2017 06:44

Its really hard for DC when the DM leaves (especially for OM), it feels like a huge rejection. it happened to me. Its horrible, in my school the only other DC that didn't have a DM at home were a family who sadly lost their DM. For me it really felt different from my friends living with their DM. Can you work to have the DC 50%?

Is it serious with your OM? how would he feel about having DC living with you at least 50%?

I think you are being cruel to your DH in suggesting that you stay tbh, how does he feel about joint custody of DC?

TheBakeryQueen · 04/07/2017 06:49

Seriously, anyone with any common sense and ability to put the children first would say do not leave! You are the main carer and that should continue regardless.

I feel sorry for your husband but that's no reason to hurt the children further.

They won't just get over it, it would turn their lives upside down.

2014newme · 04/07/2017 06:56

You are already the mummy tgat leaves surely, you've started a new relationship whilst still married!

Ecureuil · 04/07/2017 06:58

They won't just get over it, it would turn their lives upside down

It was my mum having an affair that turned my life upside down, not her leaving.

mummytime · 04/07/2017 06:59

Sorry but legally it makes no difference who cheated.

If you are the primary carer then you should not leave the house. The house is the children's home, and you should remain their primary carer. Your husband should endeavour to have as much contact with the children as he normally does - but you will have to come to an arrangement about that.

Get legal advice.

Ifailed · 04/07/2017 07:01

It was my mum having an affair that turned my life upside down, not her leaving.
Likewise. None of my siblings wanted to live with her and her new bloke, preferring to stay with our DF.

Saiman · 04/07/2017 07:03

They won't just get over it, it would turn their lives upside down.

Thats already happened.

SemiNormal · 04/07/2017 07:10

She had an affair, she didn't kill someone. - Yet. Lets face it, this guy has mental health problems yet she procceeded to cheat on him, again. Now she wants to turf him out of his home. Let's not forget how high the male suicide rate is. So no, she didn't kill someone, but her actions could result in his death if she pushes him too far. I know two people (both men) who have taken their lives in similar circumstances.

Do you all really think just leaving will benefit her children more? - Well a PP has stated that she had a great life being brought up by her dad and he's her best friend. She wouldn't be 'leaving' them, she'll see them weekends/afterschool/holidays I'm sure.

Ifailed · 04/07/2017 07:11

Thats already happened

Agreed, so from the children's point of view, does their father get 'thrown out', and they have to live with their mother and her new partner, or do they stay in their home with their father? That was the choice I had, effectively.

Ecureuil · 04/07/2017 07:12

My dad was fantastic when my mum left. Changed his job so that he could be at home more, basically took over everything. Successfully steered me and my brother through school, puberty, exams, university applications etc.

ArcturianMegaDonkey · 04/07/2017 07:29

Scotland recently re-wrote the rules on how parents should continue to parent after separating / divorcing. To put it simply: co-parent as amicably as possible, keep things as stable as possible for the kids, keep routines as much as possible. If either of you want to divorce, then the house should be sold or one should buy the other out. If DH contributes equally to bringing the kids up at the moment, then the kids are entitled to see him 50% of the time after you separate. If either you or DH is currently primary parent, then that should continue - no matter who is to blame for the relationship breaking down, and no matter what gender stereotypes say about who should be primary parent. Keep things simple and clear, change as little as possible and avoid any possible conflicts down the road.

The philosophy is that neither parent has an automatic right to either the matrimonial home or the job of primary carer. Instead, the kids have a right to access to both parents, and a right to expect that both parents will do what is needed to maintain stability and create an amicable parenting relationship post-separation. The worst thing that can happen from the children's point of view is that parents get into the a vicious blame game, fight endlessly about who is allowed to live where, or pull the rug from under them by suddenly trying to change what is their normal parenting arrangement.

In your case - by putting your DH in such a horrible (and seemingly endless) living situation (for him), you risk making that amicable parenting relationship impossible. Yes, you have a right to stay in the house, and if you are primary parent it may be, in theory, better for the kids for you to stay and for him to go. However, we live in a messy world and legalities and hypothetical scenarios do not always work. Some parents stay in unhappy relationships because they feel it's best for the kids, or the best way for them to be in their kids lives. You have decided not to live that life. Some parents manage to navigate a gradual, smooth separation where both can stay in the family home until alternative living arrangements have been settled. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that will be possible in your case.

The next phase is very important. By attempting to take ownership of your children and the family home, you may drive DH out of your kid's lives and your kids will suffer as a result. Your kids do not belong to you. You belong to them, just as DH belongs to them. Unless DH was abusive, the fault for this situation lies at your door - not that you're separating, but in the unnecessarily traumatic way that you are separating. If you want to have a new relationship, you need to take the pain and do that in a way that minimises the impact on DH. Let's not forget, you could stop seeing new OM until you have properly separated if you want to make this whole process easier on the kids.

So, what you and DH need to do is sit down and work out how you can separate with the minimum of disruption to the kids. How do you currently split childcare responsibilities? Who stays in the family home for now should be decided on that basis. If DH is main carer or the split is 50/50 I think he should stay and you should leave as soon as you can. However, if your kids are used to you being primary carer, then that is what should continue, and you should stay. DH doesn't get to upend the DC's lives just because he's upset by your affairs.

Whilst doing all this deciding and negotiating you should remember one thing: one day your kids will want to know why you split up. Do you want them to know that you cheated on DH twice and then forced him to move out? Or caused him to have a psychotic break because you were living at home and seeing OM? In this day and age, with a majority of parents separating before the children have left home, the best any of us can do is show to our kids that we handled the separation with as much calmness, kindness and consideration to them and DH / DW as is possible. Kids are not stupid, but they are not emotionally mature either - they can and do allocate blame, and you need to be able to walk away from this car crash situation with as much integrity as possible.

ShoesHaveSouls · 04/07/2017 07:30

OP- if you're the main carer for the children, and have arranged your work around this - then you shouldn't leave.

The children's needs are paramount here, and they will suffer if their main care-giver moves out.

massi71 · 04/07/2017 07:38

This is disgusting hypocrisy.

Everyone being sympathetic because you appear to want to put your kids happiness first.

You don't.

Because you CHEATED. You LIED to your family. Including your children .

And now you are openly seeing someone else.

If I were your poor husband your stuff would have been thrown out on the street as would you.

ShoesHaveSouls · 04/07/2017 07:42

massi - a family court doesn't care who cheated, who was right, who was wrong.

They - rightly - put the needs of the children first, and try to cause them as little upheaval as possible.

goldiehawn1 · 04/07/2017 07:42

WHATEVER YOU DO DONT LEAVE THE FAMILY HOME. ....

That will be fatal.

Affairs happen, marriages break down .

But the Courts won't be interested in the minutiae of your lives , just ensuring the children are well cared for. I would suggest that as your husband has mh issues, he might not be best placed to take over this role in its entirety.

Before you make another move, please do yourself a favour and call a solicitor and get advice that will protect your assets.

Thinking of you.

JoshLymanJr · 04/07/2017 07:45

the people who think the OP should be treated differently compared to a man in a similar situation are saying that because she's the primary carer, not just because she's a woman.

Also sexism.

massi71 · 04/07/2017 07:52

Shoes...

I don't mean legally. I know full well what the legal position is. My post is about how hypocritical the general response is to this OP. Had she been a man the response would be so different. Affairs and lying are so destructive to a family regardless of the gender of the perpetrator.

This OP is openly trying to have her cake and eat it. She wants to have family life on her terms. She has not considered her children's best interests at all. Just now, when she is being told by her husband (who has MH issues) that he can't tolerate the situation anymore.

Again if she were the husband doing this how many posts would have been as supportive?

However, the hypocrisy here is astonishing.

Sleephead1 · 04/07/2017 07:52

Dont leave the house or your children. I think finish with other man at least for now and move back in. Seek legal advice asap. It sounds like you are primary carer and have arranged your work / life around that. Of course it is important that they have a relationship with their dad but sometimes due to work ect one parent ends up being the primary carer as the other works 50 -hours a week ect and would find it very difficult to become primary carer aswell as work round that. Obviously having a affair is wrong and i feel very sorry for your husband but this is about whats best for your children. You need to take legal advice and proceed with divorce ect perhaps one of you can buy the other out of the house. I wouldnt do anything without legal advice and ask your husband to do the same.

Hissy · 04/07/2017 08:00

Men cheat and fuck off every single day.. leaving the other parent to pick up the pieces.

If women can negotiate things with work to accommodate the children when a bloke has affairs, why can't a father?

If he wants to do this, he absolutely should.

I have zero sympathy for cheats. There's always an alternative

Or was it an accident? Did the op trip and impale herself on a dick?
Repeatedly?

Mrscaindingle · 04/07/2017 08:17

The posters who are judging those of us who take a dim view of cheating as judgemental or Victorian are not taking into account the immense pain that cheating causes the other partner and that it effectively fucks up any chance of being able to co parent amicably.

The fall out from it affects the wider family and of course the children who are caught in the middle. So it is a bit late now for the op to be thinking of the children at best it's damage limitation now and if her ex needs some time away from her but doesn't want to leave his home then I think he has that right, from a moral stand point.
It doesn't need to be permanent as as pp have pointed out men do this every day and most of them manage to keep their relationships with their children.

Wallywobbles · 04/07/2017 08:17

Nights are what count in terms of who is in charge of kids. So if he has them every night you are going to be paying maintenance.

MyOtherProfile · 04/07/2017 08:41

Its really hard for DC when the DM leaves

And when the DF leaves surely? Just because mum does the school run doesn't mean dad isn't around in the evenings and a vital part of their upbringing. And in this case not the one to screw up a family.

Sugarpiehoneyeye · 04/07/2017 08:42

Where are you OP ?

AntiopeofThemyscira · 04/07/2017 08:47

Legally the court will not care that you had an affair. Your children's well being is the most important thing and as their primary carer no you should not leave. No one should lose their children or be punished by not living with them just because they didn't conduct their adult relationships they way MN deems they should. MN is ridiculous for this by the way, the amount of threads I have read where parents being separated from kids and with shrieks that "he must be the one to tell the kids!" That's dishing out PUNISHMENT to the adult not doing what's right for the children. I'd say exactly the same if it was a man too and have done.