What is “exclusive possession of the matrimonial home” and is it wise to leave the home if your BC marriage is in trouble?
Sometimes it feels like you can’t take it anymore and you have to leave the family home for your own sanity. Sometimes you feel you need to leave the matrimonial home because you feel guilty and you want to be a hero. Sometimes you feel you must leave the family residence because you are being harassed and bullied into leaving by a demanding and unreasonable spouse.
Lorne MacLean, Vancouver family and BC divorce lawyer warns that leaving the home is often a foolish and potentially fatal legal misstep.
Either party can ask a court for exclusive possession of the family home and to win on this point the claiming party must show it is a practical impossibility for the parties to occupy the home and that they are the preferred occupant. Child custody orders where the children remain living in the home the entire time while the parents take turns leaving is called a “Bird’s Nest” child custody order. For example, mom may reside at the children’s home Monday evening through Thursday, and Dad may reside there from Thursday evening through Monday morning.
Before you decide whether you really need to leave the family home please watch this video by Lorne MacLean of the MacLean Family Law Group.
.
