My Ex-partner is Trying to Make me Leave the Family Home
In this article, our Family Law Solicitors in London explain your rights and options if your ex-partner tries to make you leave the family home.
Contact our London Family Lawyers Today for Expert Family Law Legal Advice.
Appointments are available at our office in London, as well as by phone or online consultation.
Take legal advice before you tell your partner that you want to separate
If you are married, in a civil partnership or living with a partner in an unmarried relationship, you should take specialist family law legal advice before you tell your partner that you think the relationship is at an end and you want to separate.
If your partner is initiating the separation and tells you the relationship is over and they want you out of the family home, you should take legal advice from Injunction Solicitors unless you are at risk of immediate domestic violence and need to get out quickly.
Taking legal advice at an early stage in your separation means you can take advice on:
- Whether you have the right to stay in the family home temporarily.
- Whether you have the grounds to apply to the court for an injunction order to force your ex-partner to leave the family home until the court sorts out long-term ownership.
- Whether the family home is likely to be sold or transferred to you or your spouse in divorce financial settlement proceedings.
- Whether you, as an unmarried partner, have a financial or property claim against your partner’s property.
- How the bills on the family home will be paid until you reach long-term decisions on what will happen with the family home.
- Your entitlement to spousal maintenance and child support or the likelihood you will be ordered to pay child maintenance or financial support for your married partner or civil partner.
You need expert family law legal advice, whether you are married, in a civil partnership or in an unmarried relationship, as all partners have some legal rights. This applies whether you are:
- Joint owners of the family home.
- The sole owner.
- Not a legal owner as your spouse or partner owns the property.
- Renting from a landlord and the tenancy agreement is in joint or single names.
Why do you need to take legal advice before you leave the family home
OTS Solicitors understands how important it is to choose Family Law Solicitors you can work with, but it is equally vital to take quick legal advice before deciding to vacate the family home. That’s because:
- Separations, divorce proceedings, and reaching a property or financial settlement can take many months to resolve. During that time, you may stay with friends or family or feel limbo in a rental property.
- If you leave the family home, you may need to apply for an ouster injunction order to ask your ex to leave the property and to allow you to occupy it until you reach a financial settlement or property agreement.
- If your spouse is the sole owner of the property or if you are in an unmarried relationship and your partner is the registered owner, you may need to protect your potential claims over the property. You can do this by registering a document with the Land Registry to warn mortgage companies or potential buyers.
- If you are a joint owner of the family home, you may have to contribute to your mortgage and pay rent for temporary accommodation.
- If your children move out of the family home with you, this could disrupt their schooling or make your separation harder for them to cope with.
- Your estranged partner could move their new partner into the property.
- Your ex-spouse or partner could do their best to block the family home from going on the market, deter potential buyers, or delay the sale.
Contact our London Family Lawyers Today for Quick and Expert Family Law Legal Advice.
Appointments are available at our office in London and by phone or online consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions on Separation and Leaving the Family Home
Will an occupation or ouster order allow me to stay in the family home?
Occupation and ouster orders are types of injunction orders. They do not change ownership of the property, but they will either allow you to return to live at the property, exclude your partner or regulate how you will share the property until a decision is made in divorce settlement financial proceedings or an unmarried partner property claim.
Can I stay in the family home if I am not a legal owner?
The law gives rights and protects those who are or were in relationships. You can apply for occupation, ouster and non-molestation orders even if your name is not on the title deeds. However, the injunction is a temporary measure designed to give you breathing space while you and your partner or the family law court decides on the appropriate order in the divorce financial settlement or decides if you have a beneficial interest in the property as an unmarried partner using property and trust law.
Can my ex-partner insist the children stay with them if I leave the family home?
If parents can't decide which parent the children should live with, either parent can ask the court to make a child arrangement order. This order will set out the parenting and contact arrangements.
Do I have to leave the family home if I decide to separate?
While you are sorting out parenting arrangements and reaching a property agreement, neither of you can be forced to leave the family home unless you or your partner obtains an ouster or occupation order. You could decide to remain in the family home together until you reach an agreement over the property's future or the court makes a court order. The type of court order will depend on whether you are married or in a civil partnership, or if you are in an unmarried relationship.
Can I apply for an occupation order?
You can apply for an occupation order if you:
- Own or rent the family home, which is, was, or was intended to be shared with your husband, wife, civil partner, unmarried partner, fiancée, family member or the parent of your child.
- Have matrimonial home rights even though you don’t own or rent the family home. You have these rights if you are married or in a civil partnership with the property owner and living in the house.
- Have a former husband, wife or civil partner who is the owner or tenant of the property, and the home is, was, or was intended to be your shared family home.
- Are in an unmarried relationship with or cohabited with the owner or tenant of the property, and the home is, was, or was intended to be your shared family home.
Our Occupation Order Solicitors can guide you through the court application process to secure an injunction order. In addition to helping you obtain an occupation order, our Family Law Solicitors can assist you with divorce proceedings, agreeing parenting arrangements or child arrangement order proceedings, and helping you resolve what should happen with the property as part of your divorce financial settlement or property settlement.
Contact our Injunction Solicitors in London Today for Expert Family Law Legal Advice.
Appointments are available at our office in London, as well as by phone or online consultation.
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