Can I change the locks on the house?
Posted on 24. Apr, 2009 by Alabama Divorce Lawyer, Jim Jeffries in Initial Considerations
This question is the converse of the one we asked last week (Should I Move Out?). The general answer is unless you have a Court Order granting you exclusive possession of the home, then you should not change the locks.
If you do change the locks without a Court Order giving you possession of the home, not only will the Judge not be happy about it, if your spouse were to “break in” he or she would not be in violation of the law. Changing the locks when you don’t have Court ordered possession of the home is generally not a good idea and is a good way to escalate the case to a more adversarial (and therefore more expensive) posture. If you are thinking about doing so, you should talk to your lawyer about it first.