Two Months????

Has it really been two months since I've written? So much has happened.

School started on August 30 and was its usual whirlwind, there were many bumps in that road, Laura's pregnancy has progressed with continuing difficulties, I've been dragged back into court in a living nightmare followed by weeks of emotional and physical fatigue, depression and a respiratory ailment that knocked me off my feet.

I will briefly describe my return to the county courthouse. Bill filed another OSC (Order to Show Cause). What IS an Order to Show Cause? Does it mean I have to show cause as to why I shouldn't have to pay him more spousal support or does he have to show cause as to why he needs more spousal support? I don't know which one applies here. The order was filed in May while Bill's attorney was going through physical therapy in a rehabilitation facility for back surgery he had as a result of getting rear-ended on the freeway. The guy already had a back problem and walked with a cane. Bill got the man's associate to file the paperwork. We were ordered to show up to respond to it on a date in June. However, my attorney was doing a trial in the Criminal Courts building on the same date and had to get a postponement. The new date was set for September 28. I had to fill out another Income and Expenses Report (takes a looonnngg time) and had to pay my attorney to appear. I had to be there as well. But first we needed to finish the deposition nightmare. The former attorney had taken my deposition in March but my attorney had not deposed Bill. By September, Bill had a new attorney.

Here's where it gets creepy. I showed up for Bill's deposition at the appointed time. I sat alone in the waiting room at my attorney's office for forty minutes. The entire time I worried about Bill showing up and the two of us having to sit in the waiting area alone together. Forty minutes can be an extremely long time when you're dreading something. My attorney called from the road. He was going to be late and said that both Bill and his attorney were going to be late too. When he walked in he looked at me and said, "What's wrong? Why do you look like a deer in the headlights?"

"I was sitting here alone and I was afraid Bill would come in before you."

"I'm so sorry. I promise I'll never do that to you again."

Bill and his attorney showed up shortly after that.

It was hard for me to sit through the depo and not say anything. Bill claimed 'chemo brain' and misremembered many, many things. He said he thought he was still in law school when we got married. He wasn't. He had been out of law school for almost a year when we married. But the reason why this is important is that if he were still in law school when we married then I would be responsible for many of the student loans he never repaid. He also said the Acura was purchased with funds from his inheritance. Another bit of misinformation. If he had bought the car with his inheritance, then the car would not be part of community property, and it was worth almost $20,000 at the time we separated. So, here in his deposition, these two pieces of misinformation could be costly for me. But they won't be because I have the paperwork to prove the truth on both of those issues.

Both in the depo and in court, he claimed his last job was owner/general contractor on the remodel of our house. There is no denying the sweat equity he put into the house. He worked alongside the construction crew and supervised everything. But the 'job' only lasted seven months from start to finish, and I have had to spend money 'fixing' a lot of things since then.

The worst thing was the court date on September 28. I was supposed to meet my attorney at 7:30 a.m. but traffic was bad and I got there a bit late. Of course it was the first time I ever had been late and the first time my attorney had shown up on time. I think he was very careful to show up on time because Bill's friend, David, had been talking loudly about my attorney bleeding me and that he, David, was going to check the court records to see if my attorney was really in court on the June date he canceled. David had also said Bill's attorney had made a 'settlement offer' and I had turned it down. The truth was, there was no settlement offer. Here's what it was: the little squirt had said they wouldn't take me to court if I would give them EVERYTHING they asked for in the OSC and if I would pay the little squirt $25,000. That's not a settlement offer. That's a 'deal' not to make me show up in court.

Then we had our strategy meeting and headed up to the courtroom. Bill came in shortly after the courtroom opened and his attorney showed up right after that. So here's where it gets dicey. Our case looked to be coming up at about 11:00. At 10:30, Bill's attorney came over to my attorney and said he'd been called up to another courtroom on another matter which wouldn't take long. At noon, he still wasn't back. Our case had already been called more than once and the judge just had to slip others in. The court took its lunch recess. At 1:30, the little squirt was out in the hall with Bill and I thought 'yippee, we're on next'. At 1:31 the sleazeball came over to my attorney and said he'd just be recalled up to the other courtroom for about ten to fifteen minutes. We didn't see him again until 2:30.

I was pissed.