We have a deal: Divorce this afternoon!

Yes folks,

It is true!!!!

We had a Settlement Conference this morning, I was prepared to negotiate all day, but we got a deal about 45 minutes ago. I will sign the final Settlement Agreement at her lawyer's office, then we go back to court to have the deal ratified before a judge.

By 5PM this afternoon, I will no longer refer to her as the Soon-to-be-ex, she will be my EX!!!!!! (!) (!) (!)

Mirabilis Dictu!

I got off pretty unscathed compared to her ridiculous demands, I won't have shared custody of my youngest (my major concession), but I understood that he was reluctant to undergo that back and forth, so I have much clearer every second-weekend visitation and clearer rules of procedure. Plus it will be in writing that ALL three kids have dinner at my place every second Wednesday. Lesson for you guys, get very specific about times and procedures for visitation

Only a very minimal unequal share of joint property, and it was probably too much as it was the first offer accepted. I realize now, whereas it was only a hunch before, that their case was incredibly weak. No big deal, it is worth every meager penny to get out of this fucking marriage!!!!!!

No bankruptcy for me, no increases in alimony, she doesn't get to touch my bonus...bla bla bla. (!) (!) (!)

This ordeal is finally over for me. For those of you still enduring this, stick to your guns guys and gals, if you have acted in good faith during the marriage, you have nothing to fear!

 

Update:

We signed the final Separation Agreement, went back to the court building, swore to the judge that we solemnly are in accord with the Agreement and then the judge noticed that her error-prone lawyer forgot to include copies of our birth certificates. Hence he could not pronounce the judgment of divorce, this will have to take another 2 weeks or so...:***: :bang:

After we parted ways, I got in the car, turned on the radio and this song pops up:

[YOUTUBE]RBumgq5yVrA[/YOUTUBE]

It's the end of a 20-year journey for both of us...it's bittersweet really. I imagined I would be raising my hands in the air and celebrating...but that's not what I feel, I'm in no mood to gloat, the enormity of this hasn't sunk in yet.

I feel relief, certainly, that I wasn't taken to the cleaners; pride that I held my own without a lawyer, but mostly I'm just looking forward to living the rest of my life, however long it may be, with a good man, and eventually, however long it takes, with an ex-wife who may just possibly become a friend, again.

---------- Post added 21st Feb 2014 at 04:20 PM ----------

Check out my blog entitled "Why we married", pretty much says it all!

 

Thank you everyone for your kind support and well-wishes. I don't think I would have nearly come out of this as well as I have if it weren't for the support, and purpose, you have all given me.

I found this example of her lawyer's carelessness to be worth sharing:

"The Husband shall pay to the Husband, for the support of the..." (this last "Husband" word surrounded by "Wife" manually corrected and my initials...)