My husband left the marrital home we bought together after 7 years. I have continued to live and pay for the house along with our 8 year old daughter. I have totally re-deorated the whole house making it worth more. Now he wants his money, he is saying that he thinks he should be entitlted to about 30k. I want to give him as little as possible because my house is going to secure my daughters future. Its all for her.

You don't say if you are divorced or still married, I assume still married since you described him as your "husbnd"? If divroced, the divoce decree should specify what's his and what's yours. If not divorced, then you just got to work it out the legal issues involved and I recommend seeing an atty to make sure all is in place legally as you want it.

I have a similar issue and the only way to answer that question is to file for divorce and see what the judge says. My husband and I each came to the marriage with homes (me two and he has one). We chose to live in my home and he rented his out. The other home we used for weekends in the city. I sold my city home and took the proceeds and poured them into the home we resided in. This increased the value of the home twofold. We separated last fall and I filed for divorce. He has not contributed to the mortgage, utilities or any other items regarding the home we reside in since the inception of our marriage. My attorney told me that I will most likely walk away with the proceeds of my home without giving him equity as it was mine prior to marriage, he has a home and he has not contributed to the home financially. However, it is still up to the judge and we will see. Your situation is different as you jointly purchased the home. GOod Luck!

If you're not divorced, do you have anything to show stating when your husband moved out of the marital home? Do you have the receipts for all of the remodeling you had taken on in the home from the day he left up to the present time? Then, I would think if you had all of that in hand, and show it to the judge during a divorce proceeding... the judge MAY take it into consideration and deduct it from the amount owed to your husband. Good luck.