Housing issues / eviction

Although I am not specifically familiar with STATE’s state housing laws, often times if someone has the legal right to be in the home, it can be considered an “illegal eviction” if another person in the home changes the locks in order to keep out the other person. In some situations, if the person who was locked out wants to get back in, s/he may be able to get the police involved in order to force the other person to give him/her keys to the home.  In general, if a person has a legal right to live in a home, it may be the case that only a court order for eviction, for a restraining order, an order pursuant to a divorce, or some other court order can force that person to leave the home.

However, in other states, perhaps there may be some sort of law that says that if one person voluntarily moves out for a period of time, then the other spouse may consider that the person is no longer going to return to the home and perhaps that person may be able to change the locks.  I do not know the laws in your state about when one spouse abandons the marital home and whether or not the other spouse can change the locks without any court order allowing for this.

If you are currently going through a divorce or if you are going to be filing for a divorce, perhaps you can ask your lawyer (if you have one) about whether or not you may need to ask the judge for permission to change the locks when you are in court or whether there is some other order that you can apply for to get exclusive use of the home.  Again, I cannot advise you on this since we can’t give out any sort of legal advice. If you do not have a lawyer, you can find free and low cost lawyers on our Finding a Lawyer page. [HYPERLINK]

If you are concerned for your safety, you may want to look at our information on restraining orders in your STATE. [HYPERLINK]

Also, if there is domestic violence, it may be a good idea to think about safety planning, which is thinking about ways you can keep yourself safe.