Legal Fees
Donation protected
In 2014, my ex-wife filed for divorce while I was stationed in Germany. A year after our divorce, I met my current wife and re-married. I gained the family I'd always dreamed of, since we had no children during my first marriage.
In September 2017, I was involuntary transferred from my overseas position in the DoD back to the US due to the needs of the Department of Defense. In doing so, my pay was cut by over 50% due to my loss of living quarters and post allowance. I had no choice about being transferred, or where in the US we would be sent, and did not voluntarily under employ myself. Those allowances were originally included as household income during the divorce settlement. I have always taken care of my ex-wife as well as I could giving her $1,300.00 a month, and had never once missed a payment to her or paid late. My wife, stepson, and I had to make a lot of sacrifices as we could no longer afford to live on my current pay here in Alabama, in spite of it being more than enough for a family of three if my spousal support were reasonable. Upon arriving in the US, I could no longer afford to pay the given court ordered rate of spousal support.
I continued paying what I could, but my ex-wife, refused to work with me, and hired an attorney and also had my pay garnished. It cut us to the quick and we were financially bleeding. At this point we are going to food banks and churches so we can have food in the house. Due to court being pushed out for so long, I can no longer even afford to pay a lot of my bills. My job as well as the security clearance I require to keep my job depends on staying on top of my bills. In spite of this, I managed to utilize our tax return for an attorney retainer.
I didn't have legal representation in 2014 while by myself in Germany because my ex-wife cleaned out my account and it cost me dearly. I was at a major disadvantage not being able to afford to fly back to the US or retain representation for myself while overseas. This time I was going to have an attorney to help me see about getting the spousal support modified to an affordable level. That is, until now.
Our hearing was pushed from March to July. Meanwhile, my lawyer used up our retainer during that time and unbeknownst to us, decided to withdraw from our case citing our inability to pay only two weeks before my hearing on July 11, 2018, all while I was in the hospital mending from cellulitis and sepsis. This leaves us scrambling and frantic to figure out what we will do as my ex wife has a very aggressive attorney and I am again put into the position of having to represent myself. I'm not sure if my health can take much more of this overwhelming stress we've had to endure since relocating to the US back in September 2017.
If things weren't bad enough, this past month has been a nightmare for our family. My stepson, who suffers from autism and depression, was also just hospitalized twice in the past few weeks due to attempted suicide. My current wife is unable to work and contribute because our son's mental health issues are so profound and volatile, he needs a care giver with him 24 hours a day. My wife receives occasional minimal child support payments, but once support is collected, her ex- quits his job and collection efforts start over.
It is a struggle just to pay the copays for the medications my step-son needs to get by, meanwhile my ex-wife is able to dine out 5 times a day (we've seen her checking account statements) , shop multiple times a day, and make weekly trips to the casino, all the while collecting spousal support from me as well as government disability for her depression that all directly pays for these excursions. At this point, my ex wife receives more income to support her, than we take home to support a family of three.
My health is also important and I am not even able to purchase the medications I need daily to survive, as long as this alimony remains at this rate. We have been kicking the can down the road for months to the point where we are in absolute crisis.
We still have to drive across country from Alabama and back, to appear in court as the state of Iowa unfortunately does not allow for someone to attend hearings via phone, or video conference.
According to the attorney, the amount to continue to prepare for the hearing as well as to appear in court and represent us is $2,000.00+. It is not known whether or not that includes the $736.00 leftover balance we still owe her after our $2,500.00 retainer was exhausted. After much research, we hired the most financially reasonable attorney (cheapest) we could find in the area, so going with a more affordable attorney is not even an option we have available to us.
My family and I are
asking you to please help donate what you can towards our legal expenses, so that we can continue to retain this lawyer and help us stop the financial bleeding. You would be legitimately saving our lives, and we would be eternally and sincerely grateful if you could help us in this crisis so that we can more fairly level the burden our family is obligated to contribute to my ex-wife's lifestyle. Our goal is $2,500.00 and time is of the essence, as we need to travel to Iowa on July 6, 2017 to make this appearance.
God bless you all for even taking the time to read this.
In September 2017, I was involuntary transferred from my overseas position in the DoD back to the US due to the needs of the Department of Defense. In doing so, my pay was cut by over 50% due to my loss of living quarters and post allowance. I had no choice about being transferred, or where in the US we would be sent, and did not voluntarily under employ myself. Those allowances were originally included as household income during the divorce settlement. I have always taken care of my ex-wife as well as I could giving her $1,300.00 a month, and had never once missed a payment to her or paid late. My wife, stepson, and I had to make a lot of sacrifices as we could no longer afford to live on my current pay here in Alabama, in spite of it being more than enough for a family of three if my spousal support were reasonable. Upon arriving in the US, I could no longer afford to pay the given court ordered rate of spousal support.
I continued paying what I could, but my ex-wife, refused to work with me, and hired an attorney and also had my pay garnished. It cut us to the quick and we were financially bleeding. At this point we are going to food banks and churches so we can have food in the house. Due to court being pushed out for so long, I can no longer even afford to pay a lot of my bills. My job as well as the security clearance I require to keep my job depends on staying on top of my bills. In spite of this, I managed to utilize our tax return for an attorney retainer.
I didn't have legal representation in 2014 while by myself in Germany because my ex-wife cleaned out my account and it cost me dearly. I was at a major disadvantage not being able to afford to fly back to the US or retain representation for myself while overseas. This time I was going to have an attorney to help me see about getting the spousal support modified to an affordable level. That is, until now.
Our hearing was pushed from March to July. Meanwhile, my lawyer used up our retainer during that time and unbeknownst to us, decided to withdraw from our case citing our inability to pay only two weeks before my hearing on July 11, 2018, all while I was in the hospital mending from cellulitis and sepsis. This leaves us scrambling and frantic to figure out what we will do as my ex wife has a very aggressive attorney and I am again put into the position of having to represent myself. I'm not sure if my health can take much more of this overwhelming stress we've had to endure since relocating to the US back in September 2017.
If things weren't bad enough, this past month has been a nightmare for our family. My stepson, who suffers from autism and depression, was also just hospitalized twice in the past few weeks due to attempted suicide. My current wife is unable to work and contribute because our son's mental health issues are so profound and volatile, he needs a care giver with him 24 hours a day. My wife receives occasional minimal child support payments, but once support is collected, her ex- quits his job and collection efforts start over.
It is a struggle just to pay the copays for the medications my step-son needs to get by, meanwhile my ex-wife is able to dine out 5 times a day (we've seen her checking account statements) , shop multiple times a day, and make weekly trips to the casino, all the while collecting spousal support from me as well as government disability for her depression that all directly pays for these excursions. At this point, my ex wife receives more income to support her, than we take home to support a family of three.
My health is also important and I am not even able to purchase the medications I need daily to survive, as long as this alimony remains at this rate. We have been kicking the can down the road for months to the point where we are in absolute crisis.
We still have to drive across country from Alabama and back, to appear in court as the state of Iowa unfortunately does not allow for someone to attend hearings via phone, or video conference.
According to the attorney, the amount to continue to prepare for the hearing as well as to appear in court and represent us is $2,000.00+. It is not known whether or not that includes the $736.00 leftover balance we still owe her after our $2,500.00 retainer was exhausted. After much research, we hired the most financially reasonable attorney (cheapest) we could find in the area, so going with a more affordable attorney is not even an option we have available to us.
My family and I are
asking you to please help donate what you can towards our legal expenses, so that we can continue to retain this lawyer and help us stop the financial bleeding. You would be legitimately saving our lives, and we would be eternally and sincerely grateful if you could help us in this crisis so that we can more fairly level the burden our family is obligated to contribute to my ex-wife's lifestyle. Our goal is $2,500.00 and time is of the essence, as we need to travel to Iowa on July 6, 2017 to make this appearance.God bless you all for even taking the time to read this.
Organizer
Landy Schwiesow
Organizer
Deatsville, AL