Received my separation proposal in the mail yesterday. Was told it would be coming and that everything we had agreed to and had been doing for the last 5 months was in it, no surprises. Well guess what, there were surprises.
-She is asking for $358 more then I pay her now. I have two children.
-She is asking that I split all childcare cost/extra curricular activities with her.
-She is asking I split all cost for the dog.
-She gets the kids on Christmas eve at 6:00pm thrugh Dec 26th. All other holidays are rotated.
These are the four main issues I have. She is stating my car allowance is income? I see my car allowance as my fuel and car care. Not extra income. Can this be included in my income? I only make $2000 gross more then she does. And if legal litigation is necessary she can claim for me to pay for her cost. What about my cost?
I know I have rights but am strapped for attorney fee’s due to our debt accumulated during our marriage. She wanted the divorce, she cheated and assaulted me. Yet she wants out and expects me to pay more then 25% of my check to her plus additional activites? Why in the heck would any woman stayed married to a man if she could get all that? I mean the purpose of a divorce, well our case, is she wants to be on her own, yet she needs me to still support her? Doesnt seem right or fair.
So my questions:
How do you go about not agreeing with a separation agreement without lawyer representation?
Can I respond to her lawyer without representation?
Is the separation agreement just a negotiating tool for both parties to come to a happy medium?