I am very sorry for posting a new link, but I didn't know where else to post.
I will start by saying that the advice I am seeking is for a friend (who understandably is in no condition to seek this advice right now)
My friend is a 28 year old woman, currently residing in Ontario. About 3 and a half years ago, she met her husband through work. He was a 26 year old man, from Europe. It all seemed to move pretty fast, but they "fell in love", and got married in March of 2002. Being a citizen of Europe, they had to go through lots of sponsorships, and Visa complications (which I'm not going to pretend to know much about). Also during these 4 years, he was unable to work legally in Canada. Her husband, though in the same field of work as her, seemed to have a lot of potential to make it in the business, so for the time being, she was happy to put her dreams, and career plans on hold to support him, and eventually the family that they had planned to have.
Everything seemed to be going fine, as far as she was concerned. in October of 2004, he fell into a deep depression (which was highly unusual, because he is a very outgoing and loving person) He was talking to other girls, and who knows what else, and he wanted to leave her, and he wanted a divorce. At the time, he was abusing illegal substances (steroids) and we were worried that that was the reason for his strange behaviour
The thing was, that in his line of work, for the time being, it would have been ridiculous for him to do this, because if he left her (his sponsor), he would have no way or reason to stay in Canada, and his long term career plans, although based in the States, he needed to reside in canada for the time being. Being a loving supportive wife, she got him off of the steroids, and got him herbal suppliments, that made him start to feel better. After about a month, he snapped out of his depression, and all of the sudden realized, that he didn't want a divorce, etc. In the past year, she has continued to work temp job after temp job, to try and get him into his line of work.
My friend obviously planned to continue the marriage. She saw all of the emotional, and financial sacrifices she was making as an investment into her marriage, and her future family. So for most of this year, they have been putting all of their energies into building his career. About 2 months ago, their collective dreams came true. He was signed to a 3 year contract, in the business of his choice. It was amazing! Incredible! (I can't mention the type of work he is in, but lets just say he now has the potential to make millions of dollars a year. (I know it sounds like I'm making this up, but I'm not...lol) It was perfect! They talked about a family, and a house, and putting her through school, and paying for her driver's training, and buying her a car.
At the time, they were both renting an appartment in Ontario. They decided that she would remain in the appartment for a while, and take on a room mate, until he could save up enough money to move her to the US, where his business is based. Now in this time, he was required to apply for, and recieve several different visas, to several different countries, as his career involves a lot of travel. Approximately 2 weeks ago, all of his work visas came in, and he moved to the States for training, and to eventually start his new career.
Five days ago, she "found out", that he had been cheating on her, and when she approached him, and even went as far as begged him to stay, he said he wanted a divorce, and there was nothing anyone could do to change his mind. It was an exact repeat from the previous year. This exact same shell of a person was back, and claiming he wanted a divorce. It was ridiculous, because it happened exactly 2 weeks after he obtained his foreign work Visas. So this is just the back story...lol.
He said that he will take care of the divorce. All that her and I want to do now, is to explore her legal options. Right now, as he's in this depressed self-destructive mode, he's saying that she can have everything. The tricky part is, that he really doesn't have anything yet. So really, if she were to recieve half of everything, half of nothing = nothing...lol...
I just want to review all of her legal options. I mean they were married for 3 and a half years, and this whole time, he didn't work legally in Ontario. She worked to support him this entire time, and incurred around $20, 000 of debt for him. All of the debt that she now owes, was neccesary to develop his future career. Right now, five days after the revelation of the adultary, and his wanting a divorce, he is totally amicable, (as he well should be...lol) and this very day, the divorce is completely uncontested. He even went as far to write down on a peice of paper, that she is entitled to any past present or future earnings. I realize that this is not legal, even though they had a witness. He also said, that he would still buy her, a house, a car, and pay for her driver's ed, and schooling. Unfortunately, this did not get documented, legally or otherwise...
All we want to know, is what happens if a year from now, he proceeds with the divorce, and says " I didn't cheat, I didn't say I woud pay for everything, I didn't say she was entitled to half" Lets just say, that any lawyer he would get, be it in canada or the states, would be the best that money can buy. His work even has it's own legal team, although I am not sure if the lawyers would cover their employee's divorces. So now, she is 28 years old, stuck with a $20 000 debt, which is legally hers (although in reality, it is all her husband's), and she is scared to death, that he will want to contest the divorce, and she will be legally, literally, and figuratively screwed.
Just to clarify, my friend is not looking for some sneaky manipulative way to get ahold of part/all of the millions of dollars a year, that he is entitled to make. Even if right now, or even if she waited a year, she is still only entitled to the earnings that he made during the marriage, we just want someone to tell us this. We went to a local lawyer yesterday, and paid him $50, to basically blow us off, and answer absolutely none of our questions. He was a terrible terrible lawyer, and basically told my friend to pick a nicer guy next time, which is almost laughable, because when he is not in a depression, her husband is hands down, the nicest, funniest, most loving person I have ever met. That is why this is so hard for everyone involved.
All I really want to know, is if anyone out there reading this, has any suggestions, as in where to go next, or even if you agree that we should "sit back, and wait to see if the millions come pouring in"lol...that was a direct quote from the drunk cave-man lawyer we spoke to yesterday. I also have saved, the list of questions that we brought to the consultation yesterday, (none of which were answered, at all!), If there is a nice, lawyer, or person, who has legal advice, or even someone who has been through something similar, let me know. thanx!
I will start by saying that the advice I am seeking is for a friend (who understandably is in no condition to seek this advice right now)
My friend is a 28 year old woman, currently residing in Ontario. About 3 and a half years ago, she met her husband through work. He was a 26 year old man, from Europe. It all seemed to move pretty fast, but they "fell in love", and got married in March of 2002. Being a citizen of Europe, they had to go through lots of sponsorships, and Visa complications (which I'm not going to pretend to know much about). Also during these 4 years, he was unable to work legally in Canada. Her husband, though in the same field of work as her, seemed to have a lot of potential to make it in the business, so for the time being, she was happy to put her dreams, and career plans on hold to support him, and eventually the family that they had planned to have.
Everything seemed to be going fine, as far as she was concerned. in October of 2004, he fell into a deep depression (which was highly unusual, because he is a very outgoing and loving person) He was talking to other girls, and who knows what else, and he wanted to leave her, and he wanted a divorce. At the time, he was abusing illegal substances (steroids) and we were worried that that was the reason for his strange behaviour
The thing was, that in his line of work, for the time being, it would have been ridiculous for him to do this, because if he left her (his sponsor), he would have no way or reason to stay in Canada, and his long term career plans, although based in the States, he needed to reside in canada for the time being. Being a loving supportive wife, she got him off of the steroids, and got him herbal suppliments, that made him start to feel better. After about a month, he snapped out of his depression, and all of the sudden realized, that he didn't want a divorce, etc. In the past year, she has continued to work temp job after temp job, to try and get him into his line of work.
My friend obviously planned to continue the marriage. She saw all of the emotional, and financial sacrifices she was making as an investment into her marriage, and her future family. So for most of this year, they have been putting all of their energies into building his career. About 2 months ago, their collective dreams came true. He was signed to a 3 year contract, in the business of his choice. It was amazing! Incredible! (I can't mention the type of work he is in, but lets just say he now has the potential to make millions of dollars a year. (I know it sounds like I'm making this up, but I'm not...lol) It was perfect! They talked about a family, and a house, and putting her through school, and paying for her driver's training, and buying her a car.
At the time, they were both renting an appartment in Ontario. They decided that she would remain in the appartment for a while, and take on a room mate, until he could save up enough money to move her to the US, where his business is based. Now in this time, he was required to apply for, and recieve several different visas, to several different countries, as his career involves a lot of travel. Approximately 2 weeks ago, all of his work visas came in, and he moved to the States for training, and to eventually start his new career.
Five days ago, she "found out", that he had been cheating on her, and when she approached him, and even went as far as begged him to stay, he said he wanted a divorce, and there was nothing anyone could do to change his mind. It was an exact repeat from the previous year. This exact same shell of a person was back, and claiming he wanted a divorce. It was ridiculous, because it happened exactly 2 weeks after he obtained his foreign work Visas. So this is just the back story...lol.
He said that he will take care of the divorce. All that her and I want to do now, is to explore her legal options. Right now, as he's in this depressed self-destructive mode, he's saying that she can have everything. The tricky part is, that he really doesn't have anything yet. So really, if she were to recieve half of everything, half of nothing = nothing...lol...
I just want to review all of her legal options. I mean they were married for 3 and a half years, and this whole time, he didn't work legally in Ontario. She worked to support him this entire time, and incurred around $20, 000 of debt for him. All of the debt that she now owes, was neccesary to develop his future career. Right now, five days after the revelation of the adultary, and his wanting a divorce, he is totally amicable, (as he well should be...lol) and this very day, the divorce is completely uncontested. He even went as far to write down on a peice of paper, that she is entitled to any past present or future earnings. I realize that this is not legal, even though they had a witness. He also said, that he would still buy her, a house, a car, and pay for her driver's ed, and schooling. Unfortunately, this did not get documented, legally or otherwise...
All we want to know, is what happens if a year from now, he proceeds with the divorce, and says " I didn't cheat, I didn't say I woud pay for everything, I didn't say she was entitled to half" Lets just say, that any lawyer he would get, be it in canada or the states, would be the best that money can buy. His work even has it's own legal team, although I am not sure if the lawyers would cover their employee's divorces. So now, she is 28 years old, stuck with a $20 000 debt, which is legally hers (although in reality, it is all her husband's), and she is scared to death, that he will want to contest the divorce, and she will be legally, literally, and figuratively screwed.
Just to clarify, my friend is not looking for some sneaky manipulative way to get ahold of part/all of the millions of dollars a year, that he is entitled to make. Even if right now, or even if she waited a year, she is still only entitled to the earnings that he made during the marriage, we just want someone to tell us this. We went to a local lawyer yesterday, and paid him $50, to basically blow us off, and answer absolutely none of our questions. He was a terrible terrible lawyer, and basically told my friend to pick a nicer guy next time, which is almost laughable, because when he is not in a depression, her husband is hands down, the nicest, funniest, most loving person I have ever met. That is why this is so hard for everyone involved.
All I really want to know, is if anyone out there reading this, has any suggestions, as in where to go next, or even if you agree that we should "sit back, and wait to see if the millions come pouring in"lol...that was a direct quote from the drunk cave-man lawyer we spoke to yesterday. I also have saved, the list of questions that we brought to the consultation yesterday, (none of which were answered, at all!), If there is a nice, lawyer, or person, who has legal advice, or even someone who has been through something similar, let me know. thanx!
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