06:58 am - LAWYER (lawyerlawyerlawyer)...livejournal post

So my visit to the lawyer was yesterday.

You know how some people just like to talk and talk and talk and you can't even get a word in edgewise, until you are having to fight to keep your eyes in the general direction of their face just so they think you are still listening to them? You don't even have to make mm-hm noises because they are really to busy talking to hear you even if you did? That was this lawyer. Something that might have only taken 10 minutes (my questions were not hard) took 40, until I extracted myself from the situation and left him there still talking to me as I walked out the door and down the hallway. You can't say he wasn't very very very very /very/ friendly.

I don't remember if all of you know /why/ I went to see the lawyer, so a quick backtrack to catch everyone up. When I told B about my moving to England and taking Ash with me, he told me that he would not fight me only if I dropped the $50,000 he owes in back child support, and the $15,000 he owes in interest and penalties for not paying child support for 11 years. Ha! Not about Ash at all, only about the money.

So he has threatened to hire a lawyer to prevent my going an taking her. Now, I have sole custody of her, and my divorce decree states that I have the right to determine her legal domicile, but I really just want to be sure. I don't want any last minute obstacles. You know?

So I go to the lawyer at the University. He is free to students, of which I am one, and it seems like a pretty good deal. Here is what he spends 40 minutes telling me, over and over, while throwing in commentary and case law and past scenarios, some of which resemble mine and some of which I really have no clue where they came from at all.

*He cannot tell me anything for sure because he is a New Mexico lawyer, and this is a Texas matter.

*In New Mexico the judge would laugh at B.

*In New Mexico, it is not even an option to drop back child support, and I would be stupid to do so.

*He suspects I have nothing to worry about, but I might want to look into putting a Texas lawyer on retainer, so that if I go and B /does/ cause problems, then I already have a lawyer who knows the case and can interact with me via phone, to the point of my appearing in court via phone.

*All I have to do is be very careful to follow the /letter of the law/ as far as the divorce decree goes, and bring up to anyone who will listen that this matter is NOT about him wanting Ashley or about visitation, it is about MONEY.

It didn't even take me 40 minutes to write down what he said. ;)

So I'll be putting a Texas attorney on retainer, as soon as possible. And sending my change of address pursuant to section blah paragraph blah of my divorce decree to B and the court, certified mail, return receipt requested. And then I WILL NOT WORRY about it any more. I SWEAR.

Now onto more current topics...

Stephen is currently, right this minute, nownownow looking at a house for us. He said that he likes this one. I am so excited, he is supposed to be taking pictures and writing things down to share with me as soon as he gets home, but if he likes it enough, he is just going to sign for it. Housing is hard to come by, apparently, and sometimes decisions have to be made in a snap. There is no garden (UK for a yard) but that's ok. Wanna see it??? Here is a link: The House:

So I'm up much earlier than normal because of being too bloody excited to sleep. I can't wait to see it, hear what he has to say. Argh!

So much more I could talk about, but that's enough for now.

Current Mood: excited