Say that a marriage is in trouble, and the one spouse decides to leave the home (that they share); could you prevent that spouse from coming back to the home?

If you live in a 50–50 state, then everything is divided equally and this also includes the house. this person can come and go as often as the please. you need an attorney and a divorce. you cannot stop this person from coming and going as long as you two are legally married to each other.

According to this site, which specifically represents South Carolina (I don’t know your location), if you change the locks, the spouse can legally break a window and come in, or call police to instruct you to unlock the doors.

A domestic violence injunction (restraining order) can give temporary exclusive possession, but this is not a long-term measure.

Your friend should know that if they remove the spouse’s belongings from the house (like, throwing his wardrobe on the front lawn), they are legally responsible for them.

They need a lawyer and a divorce. Period.
One of the few times me and @john65pennington will agree. Bookmark this.

This is an interesting question. I have a girlfriend who asked for a divorce, her husband had a bad temper, among other things. She lived in a state where you have to be legally separated for 6 months, which I find to be an outrage! But, that is another topic. Anyway, her lawyer told her she has to stay in the house with him to make sure she can not be accused of abandoning the house. It sucked, because she was afraid of his temper, and he was pissed she had filed for divorce. She had her name on the title, so I am not sure why it mattered? Your question makes me think that even if she was entitled to half of the value of the house, but maybe not to be able to come back to the house if she left? I think her state is 50/50 by the way. Kind of makes sense, it’s like when you rent out your house, you cannot just enter as the owner at any time, you need permission.

I should note all states have their own laws on this type of thing. Not sure about other countries.

Nope, they are entitled to come & go as they please, if there is malicious intension then ask the police for advice or your local citizens advice,, My Ex wife left a few times & kept coming back, there was nothing I could do. The last time she came back I was at work & she cleaned out the house of all the stuff she wanted! :-/
Nothing I could do………..
English law….

What a mess…

I’m wondering if it matters if there are actual legal divorce papers filed if that makes a difference? Or, if my girlfriend’s lawyer sucked, which is very possible.

What if the one spouse (who left) was cheating (let’s say)?

As others have mentioned, it varies by state. The best bet is for this person to hire a lawyer for advice, whether they go through with a divorce or not. Even if the person moves out, it doesn’t mean that they relinquish partial control of the assets.

They live in Canada.

I’ll look into it some more.

@jjmah my guess is in the US cheating would not have any affect at all. It doesn’t matter when divorcing, it’s not like the non-cheating spouse gets more money or assetts because the other one was cheating. There have been law suits against the mistress if she aggressively pursed the other woman’s husband that have actually been won by the wife. There is one famous case, I would have to search for it, don’t remember the names on the case, and the mistress was ordered to pay the wife money.

@jjmah My apology…It’s a natural habit to think in US terms and should have asked for more information on location.

Do you know I would tell a friend? Pack up the house and move to a different house. File for a divorce. They can’t come in the new place of residence. It will keep their sanity. Seriously. In the divorce sell the house. Help them move.

@Frenchfry It’s a lot more complicated than that. But, thanks.

@Frenchfry

In many cases moving out of the marital home can be used as an argument for abandonment, or upsetting the lives of the children and causing them distress (like divorce isn’t stressful in and of itself or something).

@Seek_Kolinahr I am thinking that is what the lawyer was actually worried about in my girlfriend’s case, who I mentioned above. Again, I find it outrageous.

I changed the locks. Asap.

Very funny joke about a marriage that went South.

A Florida senior citizen drove his brand new corvette convertible out of the dealership.

Taking off down the road, he pushed it to 80 mph enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left.

‘Amazing,’ he thought, as he flew down the I-75 pushing on the accelerator pedal even more.

Looking in his rear view mirror, he saw a Florida State Trooper with blue lights flashing and his siren blaring.

He floored it to 100 mph then 110 then 120. Suddenly he thought, ‘What am I doing? I’m too old for this! So he pulled over to await the trooper’s arrival.

Pulling in behind him, the trooper got out of his vehicle and walked up to the Corvette. He looked at his watch and said, ‘Sir, my shift will end in 30 minutes. If you can give me a new reason for speeding—a reason I’ve never heard before—I’ll let you go.’

The old gentleman paused then said, ‘Three years ago,my wife ran off with a Florida State Trooper. I thought you were bringing her back.’

@BoBo1946 If my wife ran off with a Florida Tropper I would of done the same thing. LOL

In NYS you would need to give them admittance. You could not change the locks and prevent them access to their home base. You can’t even serve them with eviction. You can file for divorce and then move through that process to have them move out permanently siting whatever damages and difficulties have been caused by their history of abandonment. You would most likely be granted that. But you can’t get that unless you have seen a lawyer and done the ground work prior…served the papers and made it official. If you have reason to fear that they will damage property or harm you then you can get a restraining order and prevent them from coming to the premises whether they are part owner or not. But of course that guarentees nothing in terms of your actual safety.

No. You could not legally change the locks unless you have already filed for divorce. If the spouse has done something that would justify a temporary restraining order, you can try to apply for one until the divorce proceedings are over: http://www.northhoustonattorneys.com/articles/temporary-restraining-orders/
But, if this is a person that you do not want around you, you need to file for divorce and start the process before anything.

we have filed she has signed joint parenting agreement with my residence the marital home as the primary and established a new residence with the dep of public aid she moved out six months after I filed and has been out six months I changed the locks five months ago. I am worried that she will change her mind and move back in what do I do