Well the trial to determine the amount of child support due my wealthy ex and her powerful expensive (obese) lawyer ground to a conclusion and a decision was rendered. Apparently we drove the poor magistrate crazy, and he quickly ordered the child support to continue unabated even as the number of children we share has been halved. He left out a specific order for me to continue sending money to help pay health insurance premiums for our kid. I am fine with this.
My ex is so wealthy, that in reality she needs not a cent from me to help maintain the living standard of our son. But she is pugilistic in nature with a large appetite for revenge, with deep pockets to hire the most aggressive expensive lawyers in our area. Naturally she strenuously objected to the ruling, zeroing in on the lack of an order for me to pay health insurance premiums for her, ranting about irrelevant minutiae such as my "long history of nonsupport." Ha! I have paid whenever I have been ordered to, and am about $284 ahead in my payments...
I too shall object to the ruling, because the magistrate neglected to consider the increased taxes I am burdened with going forward - $10000 more a year as a single filer with no dependents, compared to if I was married filing jointly with one dependent, as she can. I also have additional income data showing my income down $8000 due to less overtime and fewer hours at my second job. Also neglected in his ruling was my son's living standard. His living standard is increased since his mother left me for a richer man, without child support from me. Yet another parameter the judge ignored: my extra contributions to his welfare: I have $40000 saved and growing for his college tuition when he graduates, and I own insure and maintain a car for him to commute to school with when he turns 16 this year.
I think I have a pretty solid case.
Once the trial was over, my anxiety decreased significantly, and my dreamscapes as I sleep grew more graphic. I had dreams about hiking, sometimes with my girlfriend, sometimes with my daughter Katherine. I marveled at tall trees with thick trunks which stayed thick even 50 feet up. We hiked on dirt roads, mostly through flat areas. Katherine was a little girl, and I carried her on my back. She slept as I carried her. We came upon abandoned buildings, and we explored them. There was snowfall.
A less comforting dream found me in Chicago trying unsuccessfully to see my son and youngest daughter as my ex spirited them away, doing this and that, probably sporting events. I rode buses through nice neighborhoods feeling distraught and alone, hoping to see them soon... It was a desolate feeling waking up from that.
I worry about the lack of closeness to my son this hostile post-divorce situation has precipitated upon me. I have no idea what influence his mother has over his attitude toward me. I suspect it hasn't been good. My kids have reported she badmouths me on the phone to my own relatives. Yes, I feel anger over this. Mostly I feel hopeless, hurt, and broken hearted. I really want to be close with my son. She's preventing this. She hides coyly behind the "if he wanted to see you, I would let him" line of bullshit. The environment she cultivated at her house makes any show of support towards me dangerous, if you enjoy the accoutrements of wealth she has engendered after she married old Mr. Moneybags.
I'll work through it with my counselor.
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