The appropriate way to get your wife out of your house in your situation is to divorce her. However, it will be difficult for you to get everything you want out of the divorce. There are two components to a divorce proceeding: the property component and the custody component. The property component is a very mathematical question, in general. All of the property acquired after the marriage is added together, and the relative contribution of the parties in acquiring that property is considered. In general, staying at home and helping take care of the house qualifies as a sufficient contribution to justify a 50/50 split. Assuming you and your wife purchased your house while you were married, the equity in the house would be split between the two of you. However, splitting the equity is not the same thing as needing to sell the house. You could agree to make payments to your wife for a time which were sufficient to compensate her for her not having the house, or to split property in another way (for example, she keeps the cars but you keep the house). This split would be the product of negotiation between your divorce attorney and your wife's divorce attorney. The custody component is a 'best interests of the child' question. Factors include abuse, financial well-being, the child's age, and parenting ability of the two parents. These questions are complicated and difficult to prove, and the general presumption in Utah courts is in favor of the biological mother of the children. To give you the best chance of establishing primary custody, the best thing you can do is begin to develop evidence of your wife's poor parenting behavior. If she has previously had criminal charges or protective orders placed against her, or if she has convictions for drug use or other crimes, it may put you in a position to win a custody dispute. Without concrete evidence that she is a dangerous or otherwise inadequate parent, it can be very difficult to win more than 50% custody of your children. I hope this overview gives you a sense of what to expect from a divorce; given that you have children and property in your marriage, it is very much in your best interests to retain a divorce attorney.
Answered on Apr 04th, 2013 at 2:33 PM