DaysofRays
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FLorida
Hello all, I was wondering if I might get some badly needed advice. I am dating a woman who is nearly 4 years into a divorce. We have been dating for nearly 2 years – it will be two years in May.
Yes, she has been trying to divorce the man for almost 4 years, and he does not seem to be inclined to grant her the divorce. 4 years…that seems to me to be ridiculous. Each time she has tried to divorce her husband in the past and hired an attorney, the process would get so dragged out, that she would eventually have to stop the process as she would typically run out of funds.
She and her husband have two children together – both under 10 years old. My girlfriend currently works 3 jobs, and has not received child support from her husband for the past 3+ years. She has paid for their food, clothing, health insurance, etc. She typically has the children 5 nights per week.
Now, since this most recent filing, her husband, who has a lot more financial resources than her and owns his own business, is suddenly wanting 50% custody – meaning that he will not have to pay any child support. He has also been claiming that he has had 50% custody all of the time (a flat out lie based on my own experience) which I guess means he would not have to pay retroactive support.
The problem is that this thing is dragging on yet again, for more months that was originally thought, and my girlfriend cannot keep up financially. Her mother, in the beginning of this thing, foolishly told the attorney that money was no object, that she wanted him to “take the guy to the cleaners” has since bailed leaving her daughter high and dry. Lot’s of bluster but not really any substance to what she said.
Now, here we are today. The husband switched attorneys which resulted in a 6 week delay as the trial was supposed to be set in January. My girlfriend’s mother is not paying anymore, and her attorney suggested settling out of court as a result. Now my girlfriend is $450 in arrears in her payments to her attorney, and neither he nor his office has been in any communication with her. She has tried to contact them to work out payment arrangements but no one ever contacts her or calls her back. It has been 4 weeks and she is in danger of the same thing happening all over again, and she warned her attorney about this in the very beginning, that the clock gets drawn out until all the money is gone. It seems as if her attorney has dropped her without so much as a letter stating so. When I ask her what is happening, all she can tell me is that she does not know, and she figured because she is behind in payments, it will stay that way until she is able to get caught up.
I run a business myself, and so I completely understand that services cannot be rendered without payment in most cases, but what bothers me is the zero communication as to where her case stands right now. I would totally respect her attorney if his office told her where she is in the case, what needs to happen, and if they said that they cannot continue to move forward without some form of payment – I would get that and respect it – I really would. But they are ghosting her completely and she is entirely in the dark as to where she stands in this thing. In light of her mother bailing, I am considering putting up the $450, but honestly, I am reluctant to give a guy $450 who has not even been in any kind of communication with his client. Once the $450 is paid and she is caught up, perhaps he still won’t talk to her as any further calls, emails, or communications are going to be additional moneys of course. We don’t know because he hasn’t communicated anything. Anyone have any advice? Thanks.
Hello all, I was wondering if I might get some badly needed advice. I am dating a woman who is nearly 4 years into a divorce. We have been dating for nearly 2 years – it will be two years in May.
Yes, she has been trying to divorce the man for almost 4 years, and he does not seem to be inclined to grant her the divorce. 4 years…that seems to me to be ridiculous. Each time she has tried to divorce her husband in the past and hired an attorney, the process would get so dragged out, that she would eventually have to stop the process as she would typically run out of funds.
She and her husband have two children together – both under 10 years old. My girlfriend currently works 3 jobs, and has not received child support from her husband for the past 3+ years. She has paid for their food, clothing, health insurance, etc. She typically has the children 5 nights per week.
Now, since this most recent filing, her husband, who has a lot more financial resources than her and owns his own business, is suddenly wanting 50% custody – meaning that he will not have to pay any child support. He has also been claiming that he has had 50% custody all of the time (a flat out lie based on my own experience) which I guess means he would not have to pay retroactive support.
The problem is that this thing is dragging on yet again, for more months that was originally thought, and my girlfriend cannot keep up financially. Her mother, in the beginning of this thing, foolishly told the attorney that money was no object, that she wanted him to “take the guy to the cleaners” has since bailed leaving her daughter high and dry. Lot’s of bluster but not really any substance to what she said.
Now, here we are today. The husband switched attorneys which resulted in a 6 week delay as the trial was supposed to be set in January. My girlfriend’s mother is not paying anymore, and her attorney suggested settling out of court as a result. Now my girlfriend is $450 in arrears in her payments to her attorney, and neither he nor his office has been in any communication with her. She has tried to contact them to work out payment arrangements but no one ever contacts her or calls her back. It has been 4 weeks and she is in danger of the same thing happening all over again, and she warned her attorney about this in the very beginning, that the clock gets drawn out until all the money is gone. It seems as if her attorney has dropped her without so much as a letter stating so. When I ask her what is happening, all she can tell me is that she does not know, and she figured because she is behind in payments, it will stay that way until she is able to get caught up.
I run a business myself, and so I completely understand that services cannot be rendered without payment in most cases, but what bothers me is the zero communication as to where her case stands right now. I would totally respect her attorney if his office told her where she is in the case, what needs to happen, and if they said that they cannot continue to move forward without some form of payment – I would get that and respect it – I really would. But they are ghosting her completely and she is entirely in the dark as to where she stands in this thing. In light of her mother bailing, I am considering putting up the $450, but honestly, I am reluctant to give a guy $450 who has not even been in any kind of communication with his client. Once the $450 is paid and she is caught up, perhaps he still won’t talk to her as any further calls, emails, or communications are going to be additional moneys of course. We don’t know because he hasn’t communicated anything. Anyone have any advice? Thanks.
