CdwJava
Senior Member
Ownership does not necessarily grant a right to enter. If the OP admitted he hadn't stayed in the residence for months, and, has, in fact, lived eleswhere for the better part of the last few months, it is reasonable to conclude that he doesn't have a right to be there. Maybe if mom were there, too. But, absent an ID with that address on it and a key, if dad said he was not supposed to be there and was willing to sign a citizen's arrest for trespassing if the OP refused to leave, the onus would then be on the father and not the officer.I don't buy that for one minute. The joint owner of a property most certainly has the right to grant entrance to the property.
Ultimately, if it had been me, I would have asked the OP if he was willing to leave. If not, I would have asked the dad if he wanted to have the OP arrested. If yes, well he gets to go to jail ... if not, then I'd be gone. But, the status of the law may be different in GA.
As a note, a key or even an address on ID do not necessarily and by themselves prove a right to make entry. IDs can have old addresses on them and keys can be copied and stolen. If I had never changed my driver's license or turned over a former house key, would that give me the right to enter the house I used to live in in San Diego? Of course not. And a landlord doesn't have the right to enter at will, either. The police are not able to determine the rights of the parties on scene of a dispute like this, so they will tend to look to the explanations and to one party - in this case, the dad - to take action (such as a citizen's arrest) to resolve the matter.