Confusion - HELP!!

[KLC]

My H is a WAS and left the marriage because he wanted to be "independent and on his own."

Ok so I met with my H this week to talk about finances. He agreed to pay his half of the mortgage and the household bills. Success right??? Wrong. He sent me an email later this week with this statement:


[list]
[*]Finally, I'm not clear I'm paying half of your bills starting in January. I know I should cover my half of the mortgage and will do that but not sure on the rest. I'm not asking you to cover any of my expenses and whoever has the house could rent a room out to help pay for things so that's your decision I think if you want to stay there. If you want to talk about this more I'm game otherwise maybe we need to start moving on the divorce process. I should be able to talk to someone tomorrow at the free legal aide center, just waiting for them to get back to me.


What do I do with this? Is he legally responsible for paying half the bills? Not sure I can afford all of it on my salary.

Also I bought new locks for the door to change the locks on the house. I am feeling the need to protect everything he left behind. Thoughts???? Should I change them or not??

[TrentC]

Ok so I met with my H this week to talk about finances. He agreed to pay his half of the mortgage and the household bills. Success right??? Wrong. He sent me an email later this week with this statement:

[list]
[*]Finally, I'm not clear I'm paying half of your bills starting in January. I know I should cover my half of the mortgage and will do that but not sure on the rest. I'm not asking you to cover any of my expenses and whoever has the house could rent a room out to help pay for things so that's your decision I think if you want to stay there.

I'm not sure what he's asking. Is he unclear about when this agreement goes into place, or is he reneging on the agreement and saying that you need to pay all of the bills if he's not living there?

If it's the former, just clarify it as simply as possible. If it's the latter, just state that you thought the agreement was clear enough and you're disappointed that he'd change his mind with no discussion.

If you want to talk about this more I'm game otherwise maybe we need to start moving on the divorce process. I should be able to talk to someone tomorrow at the free legal aide center, just waiting for them to get back to me.

No reply. If he presses you on this, you can give a DB answer: "I'm willing to do what it takes to make this marriage work, but you are free to make whatever decision you feel is necessary."

What do I do with this? Is he legally responsible for paying half the bills? Not sure I can afford all of it on my salary.

Not sure; you'd need to talk to a lawyer, as I'm sure it varies from state to state.

Also I bought new locks for the door to change the locks on the house. I am feeling the need to protect everything he left behind. Thoughts???? Should I change them or not??

If he is on the title and the mortgage, then I don't think you can legally bar him from entering unless there is some kind of protective order in place. That would be a good question for a lawyer as well.