Q: I own the home I've been paying my ex to live in for the last 2 yrs while I was away. I'm back, he won't leave.
We've been divorced for 14 years. Living separately. He had been living in a room above a store for a few years. I met someone and wanted to move out of my house to be with this person. Not necessarily forever, but to give it a try. I had cats at my house and needed to let them remain there. My ex agreed to live in my house and take care of the cats and the house. I paid him well for this service. The agreement was that if it didn't work out for me with this person I met, I'd go back to my house and get my ex set up somewhere else. This has happened. He won't leave, won't discuss other living options and is threatening lawsuits. He believes that I'm supposed to continue supporting him financially forever, it seems. I cannot believe that he has any legal stand here. Does he?
A: Your ex is a tenant. Unless there is a written lease, his tenancy is at will. Doesn't really matter what your agreement was. You will likely have to evict him. To start, you will need to serve him with a 30 day notice to quit. Could he come back at you under some other legal theory? Perhaps. Perhaps under a contract theory for breaching the contract for you to pay him to take care of the cats. But there appears to only be one way to get him out of your house legally at this point.
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