I refused to cave on the 100K guarantee. If the house went down in price, my STBXW would have more money on the sale than I would and the house is in MY name. There was also a HELOC (marital asset) that they wanted to dump on me.
Ironically, my L was able to legally show that STBXW wasn't due ANY money from the house. HOWEVER, if it went to court, my L told me that her L had experts, 3 of them, that would testify against my income. She predicted easily a 3 week trial. Since I would be responsible for STBXW's court costs, you can do the math. A trial would wipe out any equity in the house.
What closed the negotiation:
The judge 'suggested' that I accept a downgrade from 60/40 to 55/45 in exchange for the HELOC coming off the top of the sale of the house
I get 4 weeks of vacation with kids over the summer vs. 3
The tough things:
STBXW gets to stay in the house until closing but can leave earlier
my CS is based on X income for 2 years but then will increase to Y income
STBXW was nasty (as usual), using such phrases as 'don't be a prick about x,y,z'.
Finally, next Thursday, in the wonderful state of NY, STBXW and I will stand up in a public court room and aver that "we begged for sex for 12 months and were refused". We will then be officially unofficially divorced until the final decree somes out.
This ? brings to an end? a 2 year ordeal of a man trying desperately to save his marriage, followed by a 2 1/4 year ordeal of being tortured with his kids and the police department.
FIB
Me 55; XW 47; 2 kids (S13, D11) Bomb 05/19/06 Original thread http://tinyurl.com/yg2ou2t Last anniversary 04/25/10, Divorced 5/12/10 Status: Loving father of 2 beautiful children;
