Q: Do I have a chance at winning over property rights/ occupancy over the house I co-own with my abusive child's father?
I am currently in a child custody dispute with my child's father. We co-own a house as of 2018 (never married) and after two years of domestic abuse I left with my daughter. We share 50/50 custody but am finding it difficult to aquire permanent reasonable housing for myself and my daughter. I was a stay at home mom as we both agreed I would be. Unfortunately I recently lost my part time job to covid.
My question is... Can I potentially ask the court to allow me use of the house (without him) to raise my daughter in. (He does not use the house to raise her as he stays at his mother's so she can babysit when he's at work 10+ hours). He is also not from the area and only sees the house as an investment to sell in a few years.. where I need it to live and raise my daughter, (also my hometown). I want to fight it but I feel helpless. Do I have a chance of gaining access to my house if I file another claim and ask the court for property control/ rights?
A: If you were never married, your rights to the property would be based on real estate laws and you have the right to ask the court to partition (i.e. have the property sold now) and have the equity distributed based on title ownership. So if he does not cooperate with you by 1) allow you to live in the property now, and 2) does not agree to a sale now, then you will have to hire a real estate attorney to go through the court for a partition action.
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