Hi smilie! I hope wayfarer's stories help. I'll add my preparations to ensure I'd come out okay if I D'd began before I made a final D / no-D decision. Just now I'm imagining my XW scratching her head months after I left and imagining, "Eureeka! So that's why he was so eager to see me switch from breastfeeding to pumping. He planned to leave a year before he left!!" In case that sounds odd, breastfeeding is a factor courts consider in some states when awarding custody.
Yes wayfarer's stories do help understand things a tad better.
Seeing as I didn't know about any relationship issues, etc. I haven't been able to prepare anything and I wouldn't know how to protect my [very limited] assets - mainly pensions and from what I've just read there are no options at this stage really. She's had the upper-hand all along and could easily have set up trusts, etc (this is her line of work) a year so so ago as part of the planning process. Who knows, I'm guessing but it's highly probable in hindsight, as she was researching Private Trusts last year.
M(55), W(45) BD1: Apr-2011, BD2: 23-May-21, NC (15 June '21) Divorce Filed (16 July '21) --- When you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, you need to trust it's there.
