Okay....I'm in Columbus, Ohio. I haven't signed any dissolution papers. I was going to see my OWN attorney.

He seemed confused that I wanted to contest the divorce, and said "Your husband will eventually be able to get a divorce if he wants to, all you can do is stall it" I said "That's what I want to do.....stall it."

He said "Do you think he'll change his mind?" I said "I don't know, I hope so"

I told him all the background leading up to now.....the affair and all that. He said "Caren, Ohio is a no fault state, the affair would have no bearing" I said "I know that, I was wanted to give you all the information, I told him that I'd lost my job due to the problems I was having, and that I now work as a waitress"

I gave him my husband's attorney's name.....and he knew him, all I knew was his last name, but he called him by his 1st and last name.

I told him what my husband told me initially, when he first filed on me (Before it got changed to a dissolution) that he said the Landlord was going to have me removed by the police from his property........the lawyer said point blank "That is a lie" I said "I didn't think it sounded right, I assumed it would have to go through the courts and the landlord would actually have to evict me." He said "Yes, that's correct, and no judge is going to throw a woman and her children on the street"

He said "So, are you here just to get advice, or were you wanting to retain me as your lawyer?" I said "Well both, I don't think I need to retain you just yet....because it is just a dissolution right now, but I assume he'll file on me when I refuse to comply" then I said "Will that cost him more money....because he changed it from divorce to dissolution then if he changes it back to divorce??" He said "Absolutely"

I said "He keeps pushing for me to go and sign the paperwork." The lawyer said "Don't do it." He said "Go to his lawyer's office and tell them that you want a copy of the dissolution agreement, that you aren't signing anything until you read it through........then stall, just say you don't like the way it's written up and that you're not signing it"

I asked how much his retainer would be. He said "Well my normal retainer is $1500.00, but I will lower it to $750 for you, and instead of $125.00 per hour, I'll only charge $100.00 per hour.

My husband has NO CLUE that I went there today, I went about my morning like I was going to work, and he leaves earlier than I do, so I was able to get dressed in street clothes after he left.

The retainer of $750 is very low.....I haven't found one under $1200.00. Not that $750 is chump change, it will take me quite a while to come up with that kind of cash.

I've hit a snag in the finding somewhere to go for Plan B thing.......My friend now says she thinks she's moving out of her house because she doesn't like the boys her son is hanging around (This is NOT a bad neighborhood.....there aren't really any bad neighborhoods in Grovetucky)and she is just planning on moving elsewhere in Grove City (We call it Grovetucky....hence Grovetuckyohio's name).....it's not all that humongous, and I assume these boys are still going to attend Grove City High School with her son....so I'm not sure what purpose that would even serve.

I have another friend that was tossing around the idea of moving in together.....but her lease isn't up until November.....don't really think I can wait that long.

AND the apartment that I was thinking about getting for $500.00...the one my friend was living in....well I FINALLY got ahold of her landlord, and apparently she sent no letter asking her to consider me as a tenant, and she also left a bunch of stuff in there, her cats trashed the carpets so they have to be replaced, there are holes in the bedroom doors, so they have to be replaced. The lady said she never notified her that she was moving out, she heard it through the grapevine, and now that she has to do all these repairs she is going to have to raise the rent to $650.00 per month.

-Caren

BUMP

Caren,

Sorry to see you are still dealing with this. It will be up to you when/if to give up trying. If it helps any, I got through the divorce. It was tough but looking back, in my case, it was the right thing to do.

TY hon, sorry things didn't work out for you....I'm praying like all get out that things will eventually pan out.

I don't know if all these snags I keep running into are God's way of telling me to stick around or not.

-Caren