If you never titled the house jointly, then the house is your separate property. If he is abusing you, you can file a divorce from bed and board which will remove him from the home based on fault. If he helped to improve the home or paid mortgage payments, then he may have a claim to some percentage of the home. The only way to avoid the cost of a divorce is to pretty much do it yourself. Lawyers are expensive, but it is difficult to remove a spouse from the marital residence if he or she will not go voluntarily.
The house will be considered your separate property in large part, unless you have titled the home jointly in which case the home is marital in nature and your spouse is entitled to one half of the equity. Since you have been in the home for a long period of time a portion of the equity can be considered marital due to the
I bought a house before marriage that we both reside in. I have been married for almost 10 years with no children. He is currently verbally abusing me and it has been mostly physical and verbal in the past. (The last beating was about 5 months ago.) He always threatens that he is not going to give any money towards the bills and he states that I can’t kick him out because it is against the law. I feel as thought I am living in an inhuman situation. I want to move, but I know I can’t afford rent and mortgage both.
I know in NC you have to live apart for a year. How do I get a separtion from him without getting into a financial strain?
Trapped.