Woman fears losing property rights if she leaves abusive man

rights don’t end because you’ve moved out of the property. What has happened is that your share of the home effectively becomes a second home or investment property, depending on what happens with your boyfriend and his father. They can’t take your name off the title to the property legally without your consent.

If you contact a family law attorney to help you with your situation, which may include getting a court order to keep your boyfriend (and father of your child) a certain distance away from you, there is legal action that will protect your ownership interest in the home and any other property. This might include your bank accounts and other personal property you might own together including, perhaps, a car.

At the end of a relationship, women often want to hang on to the house they lived in, especially if they have children. But if you don’t have a solid income and you’re not getting enough child support, houses are often too expensive to hold on to in the end, and many women wind up losing them anyway because they can’t afford to stay in them.

You should find a good attorney and discuss your concerns. While your boyfriend can’t take you off the title to the home, you may find out the hard way that he can ruin your credit history. If you and he have a mortgage on the home and he fails to make the monthly mortgage payments, not only will his credit suffer, but your credit and his father’s credit will suffer.

You’ll have to monitor those mortgage payments to see if he makes them and, eventually, with the help of an attorney, find a way to get you out of the ownership in the home.

If you don’t know where to turn, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233. You can also find confidential help and resources at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Department on Women’s Health at www.womenshealth .gov.

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