Can I Change the Locks?

The fact that the ownership of the home you lived in with your spouse before he moved out  is held solely in your name, doesn’t mean you can change the locks to keep him from coming back into the home.  If you lived in it with him at separation then your home is likely what is called in law a “matrimonial home”. Under the Family Law Act, a matrimonial home is defined as ‘every property in which a person has an interest and that is, or, if the spouses have separated, was, at the time of separation, ordinarily occupied by the person and his or her spouse’.

If your home is a matrimonial home, then, under the Family Law Act, regardless of the ownership, both you and your husband have an equal right to possession of the home.  This means that even though your husband moved out of the home, he can come back into the home anytime he wants, and does not need to ask your permission to do so. If you change the locks your husband cannot legally be prevented from showing up with a locksmith, having the lock removed and entering the home.

The legislators who drafted the Family Law Act recognized that this was not necessarily going to be the best state of affairs for estranged parties, so one way to solve the problem is to apply to the court and ask that an order be made to give him or her what is called “exclusive possession” of the matrimonial home, and in fact, its contents (furniture, dishes, etc).  Once you have such an order, your spouse cannot come into the home and you will be free to change the locks.