I lived in Hawaii with an abusive husband and we divorced in 2005.
I legitimately was in fear of this man and the only way I could get off of the island was if I signed the divorce decree. He had murdered my animals, taken all of my money and he threatened my life on countless occassions. I had a restraining order in effect coupled with a military protective order and Navy Family Advocacy had a hearing and ruled that he was 'officially' abusive. The decree granted me nothing and granted him money from me. I was in no position to argue because, though Navy Family Advocacy was successful in requesting that the Navy pay for my moving expenses, they were unable to bypass the 'sponsor signature requirement'. My ex had to sign off to release the assistance and he would only do this if I signed the divorce decree. This was two years ago.
I signed the decree and fled to Massachusetts immediately. Now he is trying to collect on the money promised to him in the decree but I'm pretty sure I'm past the one year time limit to fight the decree with duress as my defense... I think.
The amount of money he wants is ridiculous and he has a hearing scheduled in Hawaii to garnish my wages. I understand he can have this order put into effect and then Hawaii can have Massachusetts garnish my wages.
Is there any way out of this for me? I don't see how such an abusive person is able to profit off of the pain he caused.
Even though the time limit to dispute the decree has passed, is there another avenue I can take to make it so that he cannot have my wages garnished? Is there a counterclaim I can make that will help me?
I just can't see how he is getting away with this. He was obviously very calculating and he had this planned out quite well but I want to know if you have any advice for me.
I legitimately was in fear of this man and the only way I could get off of the island was if I signed the divorce decree. He had murdered my animals, taken all of my money and he threatened my life on countless occassions. I had a restraining order in effect coupled with a military protective order and Navy Family Advocacy had a hearing and ruled that he was 'officially' abusive. The decree granted me nothing and granted him money from me. I was in no position to argue because, though Navy Family Advocacy was successful in requesting that the Navy pay for my moving expenses, they were unable to bypass the 'sponsor signature requirement'. My ex had to sign off to release the assistance and he would only do this if I signed the divorce decree. This was two years ago.
I signed the decree and fled to Massachusetts immediately. Now he is trying to collect on the money promised to him in the decree but I'm pretty sure I'm past the one year time limit to fight the decree with duress as my defense... I think.
The amount of money he wants is ridiculous and he has a hearing scheduled in Hawaii to garnish my wages. I understand he can have this order put into effect and then Hawaii can have Massachusetts garnish my wages.
Is there any way out of this for me? I don't see how such an abusive person is able to profit off of the pain he caused.
Even though the time limit to dispute the decree has passed, is there another avenue I can take to make it so that he cannot have my wages garnished? Is there a counterclaim I can make that will help me?
I just can't see how he is getting away with this. He was obviously very calculating and he had this planned out quite well but I want to know if you have any advice for me.