Leaving, house sale

[notsosoftanymore]

Sorry this is a question I've seen posted before but I've just left after a massive fight which turned physical.
We were selling our house and due to move in February. I had been nursing fantasies about how I would use this as my escape but everything has now been blown and as I feared, he is saying oh if we're going to separate he'll have to stop and think about it.
If he sabotages the sale so that he can stay in the house, what can I do? We've been married 40 years and own the house jointly. I can't force a sale can I?

You’d have to start divorce proceedings and ultimately as part of the financial settlement you’ll either have buy

agree for him to buy you out
you buy him out
sell the house

if first 2 options not possible within the overall split of assets then 3 could be ordered by a judge if needed

youll need to look at all assets to work out what’s fair

You can force a sale - especially if no children are involved. Get yourself some decent advice. If you are still there you can claim benefits as a single person even under the same roof and get solicitor fees paid. Know your rights - and don’t listen to him.

Of course you can - you need to divorce him and either get him to buy you out or he has to sell and give you half.

Personally I would stay completely quiet until the contracts had been exchanged and then tell him that you are instructing the solicitor to split the proceeds 50/50 Time to fight dirty and put yourself first.

If it turned abusive, as I'm guessing it did with you mentioning it being physical? Contact women's centre or similar and they can help you apply for an occupation order, so he can't stay there anyway.

Thanks people. Mummymeister that's what I was hoping but things went wrong with a big argument. I didn't know that I could step in at the point of selling our house and direct the solicitor, thanks. I will be seeing a solicitor this week I hope.

If you don't both agree on selling the house, then you do need a solicitor and to obtain a court order to sell. No reputable estate agent will market without both your consents and ID and nothing can be done to make the other sell without the court order if he refuses to sell.