Dire Straights--Property, Child Custody & Support

Thank you so much for this service. It is so invaluable. Please keep up the fine work that you are doing.

Here goes:
I left my primary place of residence in NC in 08/04 while an existing protective order against my husband was in effect and relocated with my kids to another state where my family is located. The basis of the original and extended protective order were based on mental and financial cruelty in a nutshell. In addition, during our marriage and since the time that I left, my husband has been on/off employed and always seemingly a victim of employment circumstances. He has not provided child support (maybe 2-3 times within the year and a half that I left), nor has he taken any consistent responsibility for the kids or to keep the mortgage up. Since 10/04 he relocated also to another but different state to work. However, for the last 3-4 weeks (since he was laid off from his latest employer), he has been back to the primary residence in and has attempted to re-establish residency.

I have filed for divorce through another state, but he has not yet been served in NC. The mortgage on the primary residence before I left in 08/04 and is a financial hardship. Neither of us can afford to make payments and it is headed for foreclosure. He is on the deed, but not the mortgage, but will not sign for the house to be sold nor consistently contribute to helping pay the mortgage. In fact, this past month he intercepted the payment from the tenant that has been there for the past 3 months just out of spite and to force the house to foreclosure and not allow me to try to work out a repayment plan to the lender.

Here are my questions:
He is threatening to sue me for abandonment. Can he do that under the circumstances in which I had to leave for my safety and mental health? And, how can he initiate when he has not met the residency requirements to do so, or has he because we still have property there? I nearly had a nervous breakdown and had been in therapy for 2.5 years over this mental abuse.

Is there anything that I can do through NC to get a court order ASAP to dispose/sale the house to avoid the foreclosure on my credit, remember he is not on the mortgage just listed jointly on the deed. There is equity (30-40k)in the home and there is no rational reason why we cannot sell and split the profits.

He has and continues to be a very angry man diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, bouts with recreational drugs, and very vendictive. Please help.

CDJ Bailey