What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
I have a divorce trial coming up in about a week. couple of months ago, a sudden change in my financial picture made me let go my lawyer. Now the things are not 100% back to normal but looking up.
My ex, or soon to be ex, let go her lawyer about a year ago due to financial hardship and since then, she is representing herself on court dates.
My ex, has an AA degree and as I learned from court papers, is a paralegal, whom never practiced this profession in our almost 9 years long marriage, but obviously should know the legal system better than I do.
There is no children or custody involved in this case, only financial disputes, but if all judged in my exes favor, can put me into a financial pickle to the tune off 40-50K dollars
My biggest three worries:
1. There is an unexplained disappearance of some money, which was verbally told to me existed while married but declared non-existent in the divorce filing. Upon several requests, she did not produce any documentation regarding this money. This amounts to about $30K, half of which I believe was due to me.
2. In the last 7-8 months, prior to filing for divorce, there was a hoarding of cash from the accounts funded by community property money, in the form of large lumps of cash withdrawals. $200 to $700 at a time range totaling to $7-8K. I brought this up in the mediation conference and mediator brushed it off as living expenses. But I know the way we lived. We didn't have anything to show for this amount of money during the period money has been drained. I am hoping to recoup half of that amount from her.
3. Last but not the least: Spousal support. Although our marriage has been declared as a short term by the previous judge residing the courtroom, my ex insists that she should get lifetime alimony from me. On the settlement/mediation conference in August, she agreed to half of the duration of marriage clause but other frivolous demands of her broke down the agreement. Paralegal salaries in our area is between $38K to $68K per annum, averaging around $49K. Yet she insists doing freelance bookkeeping and reports income of less than $10K per year. She also wants me to provide her health insurance costs for the rest of her unmarried life.
The rest of the financial dispute is peanuts compared to this. Few hundred or couple of thousand dollars worth bank accounts to be settled which almost zeroes out between my account contents and hers.
On another topic, I am not sure if it is relevant or not, there is a big (close to $100K credit card debt my ex racked up and she was planning to declare BK just before she filed for divorce and clear her name out with the type of BK which doesn't make you pay back the portion of money. Now she wants me to take over half the debt. It is really irrelevant because, due to a foreclosure and a second mortgage company not leaving me alone, I will have to declare a BK myself, regardless with or without half of her debt, but I like to keep the things simple. Plus, prior to her filing for divorce, I was unaware of how grim the situation was. She kept me in the dark and told me that she only owed a little more than $20K and when she started BK talk, the amount became 45K and now the reality is $100K or very close to that.
Sorry for my long rant but according to what I see on these forums, I see that better explained situations get better advice.
My questions are:
Can I go alone, knowing that, she is coming without a lawyer ? I reached out to my old lawyer and he say they can prepare a court brief for me with my name on it, not theirs, tothe tune of $3500, which is about 10 hours of time charged. And if I want court representations, that would be extra if they can fit me into their schedule. No guarantees on the schedule part too. My question actually is, does writing a court brief, about 15-20 pages long worth that kind of money ? Or if I'm mistaken, what other service they will provide me for that ?
If I can go alone, where can I find the court forms in MS word format for download, preferably for free or close to free ?
Thank you
I have a divorce trial coming up in about a week. couple of months ago, a sudden change in my financial picture made me let go my lawyer. Now the things are not 100% back to normal but looking up.
My ex, or soon to be ex, let go her lawyer about a year ago due to financial hardship and since then, she is representing herself on court dates.
My ex, has an AA degree and as I learned from court papers, is a paralegal, whom never practiced this profession in our almost 9 years long marriage, but obviously should know the legal system better than I do.
There is no children or custody involved in this case, only financial disputes, but if all judged in my exes favor, can put me into a financial pickle to the tune off 40-50K dollars
My biggest three worries:
1. There is an unexplained disappearance of some money, which was verbally told to me existed while married but declared non-existent in the divorce filing. Upon several requests, she did not produce any documentation regarding this money. This amounts to about $30K, half of which I believe was due to me.
2. In the last 7-8 months, prior to filing for divorce, there was a hoarding of cash from the accounts funded by community property money, in the form of large lumps of cash withdrawals. $200 to $700 at a time range totaling to $7-8K. I brought this up in the mediation conference and mediator brushed it off as living expenses. But I know the way we lived. We didn't have anything to show for this amount of money during the period money has been drained. I am hoping to recoup half of that amount from her.
3. Last but not the least: Spousal support. Although our marriage has been declared as a short term by the previous judge residing the courtroom, my ex insists that she should get lifetime alimony from me. On the settlement/mediation conference in August, she agreed to half of the duration of marriage clause but other frivolous demands of her broke down the agreement. Paralegal salaries in our area is between $38K to $68K per annum, averaging around $49K. Yet she insists doing freelance bookkeeping and reports income of less than $10K per year. She also wants me to provide her health insurance costs for the rest of her unmarried life.
The rest of the financial dispute is peanuts compared to this. Few hundred or couple of thousand dollars worth bank accounts to be settled which almost zeroes out between my account contents and hers.
On another topic, I am not sure if it is relevant or not, there is a big (close to $100K credit card debt my ex racked up and she was planning to declare BK just before she filed for divorce and clear her name out with the type of BK which doesn't make you pay back the portion of money. Now she wants me to take over half the debt. It is really irrelevant because, due to a foreclosure and a second mortgage company not leaving me alone, I will have to declare a BK myself, regardless with or without half of her debt, but I like to keep the things simple. Plus, prior to her filing for divorce, I was unaware of how grim the situation was. She kept me in the dark and told me that she only owed a little more than $20K and when she started BK talk, the amount became 45K and now the reality is $100K or very close to that.
Sorry for my long rant but according to what I see on these forums, I see that better explained situations get better advice.
My questions are:
Can I go alone, knowing that, she is coming without a lawyer ? I reached out to my old lawyer and he say they can prepare a court brief for me with my name on it, not theirs, tothe tune of $3500, which is about 10 hours of time charged. And if I want court representations, that would be extra if they can fit me into their schedule. No guarantees on the schedule part too. My question actually is, does writing a court brief, about 15-20 pages long worth that kind of money ? Or if I'm mistaken, what other service they will provide me for that ?
If I can go alone, where can I find the court forms in MS word format for download, preferably for free or close to free ?
Thank you