I'm really struggling right now. I thought I'd have a fun night out with some friends that I haven't seen for awhile. WW was pleasant today. Cordial in emails. Liked a couple of my FB posts. Not that I expected her to change her mind, but it was at least nice to see some thawing. However, I think she's buttering me up because I haven't put a stop to any of her plans. I told her that we needed to talk about the situation. I've heard enough people tell me to get the girls back. I forgot to mention above that we live in Minnesota and we were moving to Georgia, but that she wants to move to her hometown in North Dakota with the girls after the divorce. So far, she has tore me life apart, cost me tens of thousands of dollars, wants to keep the girls in Georgia through the year, wants to have primary custody, and then move to North Dakota. Meanwhile, she thinks that I'll follow her to North Dakota to be close to the girls. I will be talking to a DL first thing on Monday to see what my options are. So far, I have been overly sensitive to her state and not put my foot down on anything. However, this is another reason I think I need to proceed thinking there is no hope. It might give me a backbone. What can I do at this point? I don't want things to get ugly, so I want to fight the important battles. Those would seem to be: 1) not letting the girls stay in Georgia all year, 2) not giving up joint custody, 3) not letting railroad me into letting her take the girls to North Dakota. I have heard that if you are a good father nowadays that you generally get joint custody. Is that true? How can I stop this mess without things getting ugly? What is the likely outcome of not settling out of court on the divorce settlement? I have no idea how the legal process would go.
