I own a house common law, its worth $600,000.00 we owe $275,000.00,

Sorry

I didn't see that last post for some reason.

If you move out of the house you do not give up any rights to ownership of the house.

But if you move out and there is a fight about custody you have given the mother the upper hand unless you first have a written agreement in place.

The reason why is that she can argue that you abandoned the child.

And in Ontario in the absence of an order or agreement to the contrary the parent with whom the child lives is deemed to have custody. This is called de facto custody.

So it's highly inadvisable to move out before you have at least some agreement about the child in writing.

What you can do to find a lawyer is one of the following things.

You can contact the Law Society and use their Lawyer Referral Service. You will be given the name of a lawyer and can consult with the lawyer and the first half hour will be free.

The number is:

1-800-268-8326 or(NNN) NNN-NNNN(within the GTA)

Or you can check on a site called lexpert. This is a legal directory of leading lawyers and law firms throughout Canada and is well-respected by the legal community.

Here's the link to their website:

http://www.lexpert.ca/Directory/DirectoryContent/FindLawyersOrFirm.aspx

You would not take your down payments off the top. Rather unless she can prove that she contributed more than what the title says she is entitled to she would get 1% of the equity and you would get 99%.

Let me know if you need further clarification.