I really do hope you will reconsider your decision to hire an attorney. You are walking through a minefield of issues. I am an attorney and pretty good at what I do - but even I would not even know where to begin to try to work through the legal issues on your plate right now.
I knowing I am repeating myself... The two attorneys that counseled you were WRONG. Just b/c someone has a law degree does not mean they are right or even know what they are doing.
The abuse issues are irrelevant in explaining WHY you signed the settlement - unless you signed the settlement under threat of harm from H. You CANNOT overturn a settlement by saying that you changed your mind. It is legally binding on you - H can take you to court if you do not honor the terms of the settlement.
As for the payment plans, when an attorney sees a client that poses a payment risk, they are stricter about retainers. They are probably wary of a payment plan b/c you already have a signed settlement in place that may not enable you to pay your legal bills. There is more than the usual effort involved in overturning a signed settlement - if they fail they may not get paid.
It takes more than a knowledge of the law to practice law. An experienced D attorney will know how far he/she can push things and/or when he/she simply cannot do anything more for you. An experienced D attorney will also tell you if you are stuck with the settlement you signed and work with other options that may be available to you. Things are not always straightforward in law.
If you didn't have kids, I would just let this go. However, this is not just about you - you have your kids to consider. If you are going to retain custody of the kids, it is your responsibility as their mother to provide for them. If your settlement is seriously biased against you, it is possible that H is setting you up to gain full custody of the kids.
And while I fully respect your faith and your right to practice your faith in your own way - please do not bring up topics associated with your faith in the courtroom.
take care, AG
I hope you don't mind if I use your thread to reply to HT.
Hi Happy:
Thanks for confirming. I used a D lawyer for my relatively simple D b/c he had the knowledge and experience to know what would go through and what wouldn't go through in the settlement. There is the law and then there is how you manipulate the law to your advantage. He also inserted helpful provisions that I never would have considered myself that have protected me legally years after the D was final.
