Need advice please.
My friend has been with her partner for 10 years. They are not married. 4 years ago they adopted a child. They live in a privately rented property. Before they rented, my friend gave him £70k equity from the house she sold to his business - this was done on trust, she has no say in nor sight of the business accounts. She has also let him run up business debts on her personal credit card (c£25k) - these are in her name only.
She has tried numerous times to discuss the debt with him only to be met with “in 6 months, we’ll be rolling in it” - he refuses to engage in any discussion over how worried she is about the debt. In fact, the conversation descends into her getting very emotional and him generally keeping calm and dismissing her concerns (despite the fact that she is not sleeping (unsurprisingly)).
On one occasion, he has physically abused her during a conversation (pushed her back over the sofa and scratched her breast when he grabbed her - she has photographic evidence of this). He has also been in her face and blocked her from getting out of a room.
Over the last year, she has made the decision to leave him and is signing a rental agreement with another property today.
He has no idea that this is happening - she intends to have moved into the new property within 2 weeks.
My question is, she will be taking the child with her - where does she stand legally to do this? Is there anything she needs to put in place?
I am so proud of her for doing this but I want to make sure she has all bases covered to make her new life go as smoothly as possible as it will be a rough couple of months ahead.
Thank you