lilywantsout
Silver
Reged: 07/27/06
Posts: 61
Loc: PA
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Any help/advise/moral support etc that anyone out there can offer would be appreciated. I was married for 27+years when I filed for divorce 5/2004. My SBTX is fighting it/trying to drag it out as long as possible. Of course – who would want to get rid of the goose that layed the golden egg? I’m paying him spousal support now & between that & the health insurance he just wants this to go on&on….but I want to move on w/my life! (I was 18 when we married & thought I knew what I was doing. I’d thought about leaving MANY times over the years but didn’t for many reasons – money being a big one. I (the wife) have been the sole wage earner for our entire marriage (except when he worked a few weeks in the late 70’s – then quit when he couldn’t get along w/his boss!). In addition to being the sole income provider, I did the VAST majority of the housework, cooking, cleaning, laundry, lawn mowing, grocery shopping, bill paying – you name it! (He claims to have taken care of household & car maintenance but if you saw the house & the car you’d wonder what he’s done w/his time all of these years!) Thankfully we never had any kids (for many reasons, including that he said he couldn’t stay home w/them that I’d have either stay home or arrange for child care!) – it has seemed over the years more like I MARRIED a child! Anyways, today his atty (he finally hired one & has filed for alimony, equitable distribution, & for me to pay his atty fees!) was to file a motion to force marriage counseling! I have yet to hear from my atty to see if that was successful or not (he’s to try to quash it but I have no idea what’ll happen). I was hoping to retire in June ’07 but I’m beginning to wonder if this divorce will be final by then! (my atty tells me it takes 3MONTHS from the date you request the meeting w/the Master for the equitable distribution hearing, I’m still waiting for a response from his atty regarding the last property settlement offer. I’m willing to let him have the house (which is paid for) & his ira’s (which I funded & are larger than my own) & a lot of other stuff (including another property – vacant lot) but really want to protect my pension/ira/deferred compensation (state employee – like a 401k) $. Does anyone out there have any idea how long this will take in PA, or have any idea in a pretty unusual circumstance like mine how the courts would decide to split up our assets &/or if they would actually order me to pay alimony after the divorce? He claims to be disabled but he hasn’t been to any doctor since I left! AND HE HAS INSURANCE! It’s hard to maintain a positive attitude when someone like him can sit on his a** for years then expect to be taken care of for the rest of his life without lifting a finger! Sorry this is so long.
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lilywantsout
Silver
Reged: 07/27/06
Posts: 61
Loc: PA
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Just a quick update re: request for marriage counseling. Judge is to schedule 1hr hrg to determine whether or not marriage is “irretrievably broken” before he’ll decide whether or not to order counseling (my stbx was @hrg & his atty said he is adamant that marriage is savable. My atty says hrg should be scheduled w/in next 4wks (another month of spousal support & atty bills!) & the issue of who will have to pay for this counseling if ordered will be decided then IF judge orders it! Like I told my atty – if my stbx was the last man on earth I’d become a lesbian! (lol)
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lilywantsout
Silver
Reged: 07/27/06
Posts: 61
Loc: PA
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Just got notice in mail today – the hearing is scheduled for SEPTEMBER 25 – that is almost 2MONTHS from date my stbx filed motion requesting counseling! So it will be almost 2 ½ years from final separation date and still it drags on – costing me spousal support & legal fees. I probably would have gone thru with the counseling if I had been assured that HE would have had to pay for it (but knowing him he’d petition the court to have ME pay it – like I pay everything else – the property taxes/insurance on HIS residence as well as the property taxes on a vacant lot we own,etc).
Is there anyone out there reading this (in PA) who can tell me if this is “par for the course”? When I first filed (in 2004) my atty & stuff I read on the internet assured me that once 24mos from final separation date had passed I would be able to get my divorce, but at this point in time I see no end in sight. He (stbx) has NO incentive to end this (he’s operating under delusions if he thinks I’ll ever reconcile, and he’s as much told me he’ll do everything he can to drag this out as long as possible). If anyone has any tips on how to speed things up or any other advise it would be greatly appreciated!
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lilywantsout
Silver
Reged: 07/27/06
Posts: 61
Loc: PA
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Me again. does ANYONE out there have any advice for my/my situation? In addition to my previous posts, any advice for the hearing next month - how I should present my case for NO to marriage counseling & dragging this out unneccessarily?
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dmc
Platinum
 
Reged: 06/28/06
Posts: 2949
Loc: Pennsylvania
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My attorney told me my divorce would be final about 90 days after filing. Is it because he's contesting parts of the divorce? I would tell them that your marriage is not repairable and that you have no intersting in counseling. I don't think they can make you do that?
-------------------- Donna
Touching Someone's Heart for a Mere Second Can Touch Their Soul for a Lifetime.
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lilywantsout
Silver
Reged: 07/27/06
Posts: 61
Loc: PA
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Yes, it's taking so long because he (stbx) is fighting it every step of the way, wanting to drag it out as long as possible (to keep getting spousal support & stay on my insurance being the 2 main reasons). I'm planning on telling the judge there is absolutely NO WAY I would return to him & I find it hard to imagine he'd still order counseling. We went before the same judge last year when my stbx appealed the amt of the spousal support he was awarded (he didn't think it was right he was attribued an earning capacity of $6/hr due to his "disability")- the proof of his disability were pictures he'd taken of his eczema-covered arms he had scratched raw due to itching - but when the judge questioned him he admitted he hadn't been to the dr or kept taking his rx's & the judge told him to "move on" w/his life. (I won the hearing: the support was not increased.)
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dmc
Platinum
 
Reged: 06/28/06
Posts: 2949
Loc: Pennsylvania
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I wish I had other advice for you. Hopefully he'll quit contesting it and he will move on. Is he paying his own attorney's fees? They have to really be building up.
-------------------- Donna
Touching Someone's Heart for a Mere Second Can Touch Their Soul for a Lifetime.
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lilywantsout
Silver
Reged: 07/27/06
Posts: 61
Loc: PA
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One of his motions in court is to have ME pay his atty fees. My lawyer told me that it depends on the amt of the property award he gets: the judge may say he can pay his atty fees out of that so he won't get EVERYTHING he's asking for - 1/2(+?) of the marital assets including the pension AND alimony post divorce AND have his atty fees paid. At least he only hired his atty this summer, so the fees shouldn't be too high yet (I've pd mine about $1500 so far, but I know it's just getting started!)
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ann3232
New
Reged: 09/14/06
Posts: 3
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I had it wrote in to my marrage settlement agreement that my ex had to sign the d/pappers or he will be held in contmept of court. I used my house as leverage, giving him the house , for the signature on the papers. he has to sign the paper or he wont get the house.
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