Is the Husband required to leave the marital home?
By Thomas Mulinazzi, Esq. MLO/Mulinazzi Law Office
Columbia, Howard County, Maryland
Figuring out who has to leave the house during a divorce is tricky because, there is no rule that says one spouse or the other must leave the house at the beginning of a divorce. Ideally, the two spouses would come to an agreement as to which spouse moves out of the house even if this move out is just temporary. Neither side can require the other one to move out legally. The court will not require one side to move out of the house, except under very specific circumstances. The Howard County divorce attorneys at Mulinazzi Law Office, www.mulinazzi.com can explain these unique situations to you in detail and see if any of them apply to your circumstances.
Even though neither side must leave the house, there may be lots of good reasons why it is best for one spouse to move out of the house at the beginning of a separation or divorce process. First of all, it allows both of you a little bit of time and space to calm down and cool off. Not every trial separation results in a divorce so give each other some space and a chance to heal – possibly even become stronger and stay together. Besides, as the saying goes “familiarity breeds contempt” so when you are around your spouse, and you each have very strong negative feelings towards one another, fighting tends to ensue. You can say and do awful things to one another when you are mad, and that certainly makes the situation worse. None of this should happen in front of your children because it is emotionally scaring for them. The children love both of you and they do not want to see either of you behaving awfully or either of you being treated awfully. When parents fight with each other, they are in the moment, and they do not understand how terrible their behavior is and how much it is scarring their children. The children will not forget what they saw and they will talk about it and remind you about it forever. Do not put yourself in that situation in the first place: figure out who should leave the house and if you cannot figure that out try to determine some type of parenting schedule so that you can each be in the house for part of the time without the other around. This is where experienced divorce and custody attorneys at Mulinazzi Law Office (www.mulinazzi.com) can be a great assistance. They will have a lot of good ideas and a lot of good insight to share with you on how to do this in the best way.
Unfortunately, in these circumstances people often find out that they are just married to a jack ass and their spouse will simply will not compromise to do anything reasonable. The situation may bring out the worst in one or both of you and it is clear that the marriage is over. If that is the case then you most certainly need to work with a highly skilled divorce attorney. Our attorneys will explain your options and when, how, and if you can get help from a Court. Generally, there are only a few ways where the court system can remove one spouse from his or her home and none of those ways are good for the family.
Arrest: Of course, if your spouse is arrested and taken into custody for committing a criminal act, he or she will be removed from the home. I mention this because sadly domestic altercations can and do lead to violence and police involvement.
Domestic Violence: if your spouse is abusing you and you file a petition for protection from domestic violence, and a final protective order is granted the court can remove him or her from the home and grant you use and possession of the home for a year or more. The Court system is available 24/7 to grant some form of a protective order if it is necessary. The Divorce attorneys at Mulinazzi Law Office have represented people in domestic violence cases for nearly 20 years and they are referred cases by local agencies such as House of Ruth, Hope Works of Howard County, YWCA, SARC, and Heartley House.
Divorce: If you file a divorce case you must have legitimate grounds to do so and only a few of those are applicable if you are still living together. Too often less experienced and accomplished attorneys will file a divorce action while people are living together based on an incorrect memory of a unique case, called Ricketts, they learned about in law school. In reality, the Court does not want to require one spouse to leave his or her home involuntarily. Accomplishing this requires specific facts and actions by the moving party. The Howard County divorce attorneys at Mulinazzi Law Office (www.mulinazzi.com) understand the information that must be presented to Judges and Magistrates in order to defend against this or to present it as the appropriate course of action. Even if you do everything right, you are asking the Court to remove your spouse from the house by asking the Court to give you “exclusive use and possession of the family home” and this can only be done if you are granted physical custody of your minor children. Absent emergency or exigent circumstances, the first Court hearing you will get will be for 4-6 months after you file. What you do in the meantime becomes even more important as it can help you settle your case or it can disrupt or even destroy your case before your matter is even heard by a Judge. For this reason. it is best to consult with the divorce attorneys at Mulinazzi Law Office as early in your process as you can. The sooner you get the information you need, the better your rights are protected.
These situations are usually emotionally charged and legally complicated. This is why it is important that you have a very knowledgeable and very experienced attorney on your side. The attorneys at Mulinazzi Law Office are great divorce attorneys. They will take steps to protect you and your rights, can give you suggestions to reduce the trauma to your family, advice to reduce costs, and tell you the best course of action going forward. We welcome your call at 410-290-6270, www.mulinazzi.com.