Background
Ex and I have been separated for over one year. We have 3 children, and have been sharing custody on a weekly basis from day one. I have been paying child support from day one based on the shared parenting schedule. We tried the Collaborative Process. It failed. The ex filed an application Court.
Her Claims
- Divorce
- Spousal Support
- Sole Custody
- Child Support
- Equalization of NFP
- Exclusive possession of matrimonial home
- Exclusive possession of matrimonial home content (estimated worth $25000)
- Order declaring her half owner of the matrimonial home
- Order for sale of matrimonial home
My answer
- I agree with the divorce
- I disagree with SS. She works and earns $80K/year. She lives with her father, who earns $60K/year. She refuses to disclose her father’s income. SSAG calculation show both low and midpoint amounts at $0.00 (that’s without the income of the other income earner in the home)
- I requested to maintain the shared parenting that has been in place for a year. But I was obligated to request sole custody in the event a judge rules joint custody not feasible. The ex works on call on odd weeks, and does not make it back home before 6:30PM on even weeks. She relies on 16 years old baby sitters to look after the children, and sporadically on her mother. She is often late to take the children to their extra-curricular activities. All occurrences are documented. I work Monday to Friday, 8 to 4PM. I drop the children to daycare before school, and pick them up after school. I do homework, make dinner, and ensure they make it to all their extracurricular activities. My oldest child has requested many times to come live with me. I have explained to her that these matters take time, and that she should be patient. I return her every week.
- I agree with equalization of NFP. All my forms and documents have been disclosed.
- I don’t agree with an order for exclusive possession of the matrimonial home, even though she has had de facto exclusive possession of the matrimonial home since I have moved out.
- She has had exclusive use of the matrimonial property content since separation. I only left with a suitcase containing my clothes. I only ask for the value of the content to be reflected on her NFP… which she refuses.
- I bought the house during an older separation phase. We had sold our previous matrimonial home. She received 75% of the sale profit (documented by bank transactions and copies of cheques). I received 25% which I used to purchase the current matrimonial home. Therefore, I disagree with an order declaring her ½ owner of the house, and the order that the home be sold.
To me, the case is straight forward. As long as I continue parenting the way I do, I don’t believe a judge would remove the children from my care. As far as the house is concerned, I want to keep it. It’s the children inheritance. However, the worst that can happen is that there is an order to sale it. That would not be the end of the world either.
For those reasons, I decided to represent myself in court. I would love to hear from self-rep people who have gone through this. Any advice, words of caution, would be greatly appreciated.
Ex and I have been separated for over one year. We have 3 children, and have been sharing custody on a weekly basis from day one. I have been paying child support from day one based on the shared parenting schedule. We tried the Collaborative Process. It failed. The ex filed an application Court.
Her Claims
- Divorce
- Spousal Support
- Sole Custody
- Child Support
- Equalization of NFP
- Exclusive possession of matrimonial home
- Exclusive possession of matrimonial home content (estimated worth $25000)
- Order declaring her half owner of the matrimonial home
- Order for sale of matrimonial home
My answer
- I agree with the divorce
- I disagree with SS. She works and earns $80K/year. She lives with her father, who earns $60K/year. She refuses to disclose her father’s income. SSAG calculation show both low and midpoint amounts at $0.00 (that’s without the income of the other income earner in the home)
- I requested to maintain the shared parenting that has been in place for a year. But I was obligated to request sole custody in the event a judge rules joint custody not feasible. The ex works on call on odd weeks, and does not make it back home before 6:30PM on even weeks. She relies on 16 years old baby sitters to look after the children, and sporadically on her mother. She is often late to take the children to their extra-curricular activities. All occurrences are documented. I work Monday to Friday, 8 to 4PM. I drop the children to daycare before school, and pick them up after school. I do homework, make dinner, and ensure they make it to all their extracurricular activities. My oldest child has requested many times to come live with me. I have explained to her that these matters take time, and that she should be patient. I return her every week.
- I agree with equalization of NFP. All my forms and documents have been disclosed.
- I don’t agree with an order for exclusive possession of the matrimonial home, even though she has had de facto exclusive possession of the matrimonial home since I have moved out.
- She has had exclusive use of the matrimonial property content since separation. I only left with a suitcase containing my clothes. I only ask for the value of the content to be reflected on her NFP… which she refuses.
- I bought the house during an older separation phase. We had sold our previous matrimonial home. She received 75% of the sale profit (documented by bank transactions and copies of cheques). I received 25% which I used to purchase the current matrimonial home. Therefore, I disagree with an order declaring her ½ owner of the house, and the order that the home be sold.
To me, the case is straight forward. As long as I continue parenting the way I do, I don’t believe a judge would remove the children from my care. As far as the house is concerned, I want to keep it. It’s the children inheritance. However, the worst that can happen is that there is an order to sale it. That would not be the end of the world either.
For those reasons, I decided to represent myself in court. I would love to hear from self-rep people who have gone through this. Any advice, words of caution, would be greatly appreciated.
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