new-york-state
Can a domestic partner evict someone even though all home utilities are in her name?
<p>Can a female domestic partner be evicted by male in the household if she pays all utilities for household?</p>

<p>For the sake of discussion I will assume this is in NYC. Eviction is a legal process, where a landlord petitions the court to issue a warrant of eviction whereby the police remove the tenant. The person being evicted gets two pieces of paper, one saying when the hearing is and the other stating what the cause for eviction is. If the judge agrees with the reason for booting the person out, the warrant for eviction might be issued immediately, or after some delay. After that the tenant gets a 72 hour notice from law enforcement, after which physical removal is possible.</p>

<p>This is all predicated on the assumption that the person has a legal right to be there in the first place, and having the tenant's name on the lease means that s/he has that right. It is standard and wise business practice to require new roommates to be added to the lease, but it doesn't always happen. Even if the person is not on the lease, they still have an agreement (perhaps verbal) with the original tenant -- they are not anonymous trespassers. Regardless of lease status, there is a legal process to go through for roommate eviction, involving a notice of termination and then more process. A possible grounds for eviction is non-payment: the fact of one party paying the utilities could be evidence to refute the accusation. Adding the factor of being formal domestic partners just complicates the matter because domestic partners have a substantial subset of the rights and obligations of married couples. The point that I want to emphasize is that any eviction requires a court determination, and a situation like what you describe does not look like DIY, it calls for an attorney.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Unless there is a legally binding contract between the parties for
one of them to lease the premises (exclusively or on a shared basis)
from the other there is no question of eviction as there is no
tenant-landlord relationship.</p></li>
<li><p>If both parties own or lease the premises then each has a right to
its use and quiet enjoyment; neither party can require the other to
leave.</p></li>
<li><p>If one party owns or leases the premises then the other party is
their houseguest and must leave whenever the first party decides
they must. It is completely irrelevant if the second party makes a monetary contribution to the operation of the household - of course, if the second party is the customer for the electricity and the telephone etc. they can call those utilities and say "Please disconnect my service as of today, thanks."</p></li>
<li><p>However, if the relationship is one of (de-facto)
marriage then, subject to any valid pre-nuptial agreement, the premises is family property and point 2 applies until the relationship is properly terminated in accordance with whatever Family Law applies wherever you happen to be.</p></li>
</ol>
