Husband (petitioner) won't finish papers
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| Tue, 11-13-2007 - 1:38pm |
I used to use iVillage for both my pregnancies ('02 and '04).. amazing how life evolves :O
A year ago my husband and I agreed we'd seperate...he ended up changing his mind but I already had mine made up. After years of living with his selfish and workaholic ways there was no longer a relationship left. It took almost 5 months before I moved out (4/1/07) and we filed for divorce about mid-April. We went to a paralegal he was recommended and he chose to be the petitioner. The paralegal filed the papers and I was served. All we had to do was submit our financial information and we'd get our court date. Within weeks I had all of my paperwork turned in to him, much of the assets and whatnot had to be completed by him.
Now it is November 07, a year since this process started and 7 months since the papers were filed. The paralegal QUIT our case because he will not complete the paperwork. Everything has been submitted except his stated income. He is trying to state 0 and the paralegal said the judge will not accept this...
I've asked him several times where he is on figuring out his income (self-employed) but he "doesn't know"... even though I've explained to him the judge won't accept 0 income when he's driving a $50k car that's not a work write-off, eats, has a home, etc. etc. (he's even taking flying lessons!!). What's most frustrating is -- I'm not asking for anything, just the divorce. I've given up my half of our business, I'm only keeping my primary vehicle (we had 4 cars total), I don't want half of his building, etc. etc.
So my purpose in this post was to ask -- should I file a response or can/should I file a new case?
I called the court a while back to check the status of the case and she said I can file a response and the judge will give him a deadline to supply the necessary information. Dealing with my ex has been very fragile, my concern is if it will make him angry... So I was wondering can we drop the case -- or can I seperately start a new filing -- where I am petitioner and he doesn't need to do anything but sign the papers? I wish I was better versed on divorce so I could have done that in the first place.
Either route, it will cost the same. BTW, I'm in California.
Thanks in advance for any help, or simply for reading my post.


Wellll..... if you are married, and filed joint tax returns.... that would have him income documented, provided he filed an income tax return :-)
Another avenue is to have the court either base his income on the state's minimum wage base (which was about $25K/year in TN 8 years ago)--which is a state set minimum that any employable person should be able to make if gainfully employed, *or* you can have his wage assessed based on his education and experience--what would a person that has his same level of education and experience in his same profession be earning?
Ya can't just toss in the "uh, I don't know" card... and you cannot just not work when you have children to support... much to the dismay of many, many unethical parents, it just doesn't work that way.
So... I'd suggest that he get copies of his tax returns, come up with something reasonable, or you'll ask the court to set something (you can always opt to refile and petition him... yes, it's a little more money at this point, but if it gets him off the roost, it may be worth it in the long run).
Karen ~ wildlucky4me
Karen ~ wildlucky4me ~