My wife of 13 years (no children) wants a divorce and moved into another room in the house in mid Feb 08. She went as far as to put a lock on the door. Almost everything that we have was acquuired during the marriage and we are joint owners on everything. I don't mind giving her half of everything that we have. She has a job and is not contributing to any of the house expenses (other than buying her own food and gas for the car that she drives). My salary is about 3 to 4 times hers. She went to the courthouse and petitioned for spousal support, my lawyer filed for discovery and then she dropped the spousal support petition. This 'game' cost me $800 and am wondering if I could get some of that back from her the next time she files something. She just had some dental work done, which I provide insurance for and paid the initial $400 of the bill. She expects me to pay the remaining balance of $900. Am I required to pay this and what can I do to have her pay some of the household expenses, or would the court give me credit for this when she files the next petition?
The other item that I am unsure about is the potential award of spousal support. Since she is the one that wants to do this and I have given her no reason (according to her stepmother "other than I work too much, spend time on the computer, and don't walk in the park for 1 1/2 hours a day with her (I don't have time for this, I commute 2 hours a day, work 10 hour days, volunteer once a week for several hours, and had a blood clot in my leg several years ago and have to wear compression stockings to increase blood flow and is painful when I walk too much)". She will get $50k from my 401k and about 80 to 100k from the sale of the house, and the newset car. I don't think we will come to an agreement and need to know if the court will take this into account when they award spousal support? My lawyer said yes they will factor this in, but I would like a second opinion.
Well, in VA it's pretty much 50/50 on everything, including assets and debits. So, any bills aquired during this time should be split down the middle as well. Dental bill, she'd be expected to pay half.
Best to just start keeping reciepts.
-------------------- Here I am ladies.......come and get me. :-)