Time To play detective!

Finding his place wasn't hard, facing it was. I'm glad I didn't find that white picket fence I once hoped for; instead I found a mediocre apartment in a small, run down house. In front of the house was the newly leased Pathfinder that he put a deposit of 3,000 dollars on with my credit card. I guess I was supposed to be liable for it and I didn't even get to take a whiff of that new car smell. I made sure I got a picture of that too. I have to admit the lawyers, both his and mine were quite impressed with my homework. As usual, we sat in the court in front of the judge as Dingbat prepared his sob story. After the same old story of him being destitute, it was my turn. I handed the photos over. They were of the apartment he didn't have, the Pathfinder he didn't have, etc. Along with the photos were the account numbers of his electric account, his phone account, his cable account, and a copy of the furnture bill for the furniture he didn't buy and send to his apartment. I think his biggest mistake was not confiding in his own lawyer; I sensed that when she asked for a reccess to talk to her client. When the hearing examiner was finished talking, the ex didn't look so well. The color had run out of his face completely! The short of it is, I was awarded actually twice the amount that was originally granted because it was obvious he had gotten his money mostly under the table. This was not the end! As I awaited the child support checks he was already planning his escape. By the time a violation of support and then consequently a warrant for him was issued, he was long gone! All those court dates for nothing! I was losing my home, my bank accounts were frozen to pay for unpaid bills, and I had nothing but my kids and the shirt on my back. All life as it was stopped, no more school, no more birthday parties, no friends over for coffee- no nothing! Unfortunately there was only one thing to do- bankruptcy.

Of course, the first people on my list were the two lawyers that were working on my case. I figured, they didn't do any thing for me, so why should they get anything!? Not that I had it anyway.. After quite a while, the bills were gone, about 100,000 dollars worth of liability gone , so was my credit, my house and my dignity.