So this couple; male (we shall name him matthew) 42 female (we shall call her karen) 43 have been together 17yrs & married 15. Karen was married at 18 but divorced, she then had another partner and had her daughter, they tried to make it work but after a year-ish he left. Matthew then gets with Karen, takes on her kid and well he was into the alcohol and drugs but then turned morman, she was not but she "loved" him and they married and went on to have 3 boys; 14, 13 & 8

They have been stuggling the past year, maybe even longer (I am friends with both, but Matthew I have known my whole life so maybe I'm bias, but I do get along with Karen to) well Matthew lost his father 2 years ago and his mother 13 yrs ago and so him and his 2 younger siblings inherited there family home, to which Karen & Matthew live opposite, so when they had an argument (literally over dishes!) Matthew went to stay with his siblings and well he ended up staying there 3 weeks, They BOTH said they would be up for couple counseling but now Karen has PHONED Matthew & asked for him to come over, but he was to busy with work could they do it another time, so over the phone she told him; its over and she's managed to find a new bigger home as she wants a "fresh start" & because she's got the kids (I don't know why she's assumed she's going to have them) she will have enough benefits to rent this house. she has recently started working for the first time in 14 years but only part time and she's only been working the past year. I also don't get why she has to move home and move her kids out of there schools as this new home is a drive away from there school and she doesn't drive. Her current home is big enough and is half the rent of this other property plus Matthew has said he is happy to stay living with his siblings and she live in there home together. I don't know if this will even account for anything but she does go out drinking a few times a week, she does smoke weed on occasions and even her own kids say they barely see her because she's always out with her friend (who Matthew believes they are in love, I don't think it's that but she does appear to be a slight bad influence on her as before she never drank on a Tuesday and she never smoked the devils lettice before, I just think they are just friends, though i am beginning to see his point) I'm just wondering what his rights actually are, surely she can't just say she can afford this property with the benefits she'll get from having the kids, what's to actually stop Matthew from having them? If anything he's probably the better one to have custody as he doesn't drink or smoke and goes to church every Sunday. How does she even know her entitlement, seems a bit weird considering last week she told me she'd be up for counseling