How do I finance my divorce?

[Gotalife]

I am ready to divorce my husband after 15 years of financial abuse and neglect of myself and our 4 children. ( unpaid bills, not providing insurance, obtaining and using high interest - 30% - credit cards, installing 900 channels of cable when the house and car payments have not been paid, not providing the basic needs of life, etc. At the same time he has acquired a collection of the highest quality power tools that would make any red blooded male weep in envy, has more videos and c.d.s than Blockbuster, and more computer hardware and software than Bill Gates.)

My obvious problem is, how do I go about obtaining a divorce with very little funds. I want to take him to the cleaners. After 15 years I don't have ANYTHING except the house and it's contents and I want it all. Yes the house is in both of our names but I think I have some leverage as he has collected unemployment for the last year while he worked full time as a handyman. He was dishonest on our taxes last year so the I.R.S. is already after us to pay another $1300 and I'm sure he wouldn't want this years form examined too closely. I don't want to have to file taxes with him again next year because of his dishonesty so I need out NOW.

We live in the state of Tennessee.

 

[dorenephilpot]

You can always have a do-it-yourself divorce, and there are tons of books written on the subject. However, yours sounds like it's going to be tricky.

You say you can't afford an attorney. From the sounds of it, you can't afford NOT to have an attorney.

If your pipes were squirting water all over the house, would you try to fix them yourself? I doubt it. It's the same with trying to do your own legal work when things are going to be difficult. If you don't know the law, it's best to rely on those who do.

Better start saving up.

If you want to save money on legal fees, call your state's bar association and ask for the names of some attorneys who just got sworn in. They'll be hungry (low retainer, low hourly rate) and have a lot of time to devote to your case.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Gotalife]

Have I got a chance?

Thank you for your reply. I am socking away a little money, but it's slow going. I have about $350 so far. I know I'm just going to have to suck it up and dig in. I just thought there might be some help available that I might not know about. ( I'm finding there's not. However, the fresh out of lawschool idea is not one that I would have thought of. Thanks.)

If Tennessee is a no fault state does that mean I don't have a prayer of keeping my house and possesions? Doesn't seem fair under our circumstances, but I realize the courts, in divorce cases, aren't necessarily interested in justice.

 

[dorenephilpot]

No-fault means that you don't have to cite a messy reason for divorce. You just have to say that there has been an irretrievable breakdown or whatever it is called in your state.

No fault has nothing to do with property issues.

Generally, you have to split half the assets and half the liabilities.

The fact that someone is more "at fault" than someone else in the split has no bearing on property settlement.