We closed on the house, they should be out, right?

Change the locks, move everything to the garage, basement or attic and forget about it until they want the stuff. The sheriff really won't help unless you go through a formal eviction process, which seems a bit silly for items rather than people (it's not like you can't live there).

Have your husband tell his parents that they will need to make sure that they call before coming so he can be there to let them in.

The contract should have stipulated vacant possession at closing. If your lawyer did not include such a clause, or you neglected to get a lawyer, you're the ones with the problems now.

You do own the house. Change the locks, and make sure you install good security -- with the rationale that crime escalates when the economy is bad, like now. Your husband has to talk to his mom & dad about moving the rest of their stuff. Perhaps offer to hire a truck on a specific date-time and help load it. Get an agreement on date & time, and what's not out then goes into the garage for 30 days, then is discarded.

Your mother-in-law may be venting her distress over having to move. She lived there a long time and might not have wanted to move. Ignore the outburst this time. If it happens again, confront and tell her what's true/false, and that you do not deserve to be treated with such abuse and that she can speak to you when she can be civil and polite, not until. You be civil & polite! Keep your cool under fire, no matter how hard it is.

Wow, that's a lot of emotional baggage. Remain calm. You aren't getting a divorce and these are his parents.

Keep in mind, if they lived in the house 30 years, that's 30 years of stuff and they probably moved to something smaller so they are downsizing. This is a painful step. They are probably looking at everything ten times and not making any decisions. (It would be worse if they died and you were splitting up their stuff among 4 children!)

That said, it is your house. You need to start the little stuff like painting to feel like you own the house--and she needs to get over it. At some point you are going to be moving in!

I don't know about the lock changing--then you'd be at their beck and call to be let in.

Have your husband sit down with his dad and discuss the possiblity of renting a storage unit for 6 months to get control over the downsizing project. You and your husband can offer to pay to rent it (they aren't that expensive) and offer to help move everything to it (*you* let the boys do it!). That way mom isn't forced to go through everything so quickly and that way she isn't doing it in the same space you are in.

You could also offer to put 75% of stuff in storage and let her sift through the first 25% in the house where there's A/C etc. That way you can focus her activity (avoid the word limit) into 1-2 rooms while you work on the rest.

Calm down. You don't want to involve the sheriff at this time. Understand that these people are your husband's PARENTS. You need to have a frank discussion with your husband about the situation, and how you were treated by these people. It's HIS job to speak with his parents and 'straighten them out'. He needs to give his parents a firm deadline about vacating the premises. If they fail to comply, take their possessions and move them into the garage, if you have one. If not, insist that they rent a storage unit in which they can be stored.

Your husband SHOULD have cut off your mother-in-law short when she started with her abusive comments. That he apparently did not do so speaks volumes about the strength of your husband's spine.

BTW, don't count on having these people over for Thanksgiving dinner.

Good luck.

in the purchase agreement there is some language about when you take posession. there is a definite date specified. You need to look at agreement to make sure when the date was. It was probably at closing but could have been a week or 2 later. My point is until you know that date you cannot be certain your mother in law is at fault yet.

given this is husband's parents it may require a little more delicate handling. You could put all their stuff in garage. Or could throw it away, give to goodwill, etc... I doubt that will smooth things over though. Be patient and have husband deal with his mom.

(and do not give her anything to drink when she is there. It could get ugly!)

You need to back off and let your husband handle this unless you want misery for the rest of her life. Perhaps you can move all her stuff into one room and close the door for now. She is probably just upset about having to leave her home, so is taking it out on you. Try to look at it from her angle and imagine if you were leaving the home you raised your family in. It is not easy. Go gentle with her - it is very difficult to fight with someone who agrees with you - it is kind of like clapping with only one hand.

Are you still cool with your father-in-law? If not, then put all their stuff in the garage. Tell, them they have 30 days to finish getting their stuff out. And then you put it on the curb afterwards.