Immediate Trial Assistance

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truenote

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My jurisdiction is: New York

I have been in my divorce for nearly three years, husband is a very high-up, well-known and has numerous connections between himself, his attorney, and judge who has been handling our case. As you can imagine, child and myself have not been faring well. Despite initial court orders from first judge (later replaced by 2nd with connections to husband) for protection order, my portion of salary he was withholding, etc, he has gotten away with not only violating the protection order several times, but not paying a rightful dime, ever, and judge continues to allow, refusing to acknowledge his willful contempt despite numerous filings.

I have been through three lawyers who all get intimidated by husband's shrewd attorney and I continue to get bullied and railroaded repeatedly until each of my attorneys withdraw from the case and I am forced to find a new one. All have been full of promises at the start, then take the money, and soon claim to find themselves "too exhausted" from dealing with husband and lawyer's game playing and unethical tactics that get constant judge approval whether right, wrong, or full of lies.

I am now at the point where I have nothing left, I have been abandoned by the court and by all of my attorneys. I've been precluded from discovery due to last attorney's refusal to file anything I submitted, since she'd rather play nice which ultimately got us taken advantage of again. Trial date has been set for a week from now and I have now been told by my attorney she is leaving me pro se because she, too, is now fed up with the case! Husband is pushing for a last minute settlement, giving me only one option with a response due by noon tomorrow. This option essentially leaves myself and child homeless, it requires me to assume all marital debt while signing off on the only free and clear home and our business, both of which he has taken over since divorce began. My attorney is pressing me to settle as well while at the same time drafting papers to make it appear as though I am FIRING her rather than the truth, that she is withdrawing from the case. This is exactly what the last two attorneys have done as well and I am beside myself over what to do at this point. I can either agree to be homeless and commit a financial suicide or then go in front of a judge pro se who is in husband's back pocket.

I need to know the best course of action and if possible find a new attorney who will NOT allow themselves to get bullied or intimidated. As I said before, I do not have the funds up front to hire, as I've been stripped clean by the last three in addition to trying to support myself and child for the last three years with zero income. I've worn out my welcome and assistance from all friends and family as well. However I am more than willing to arrange for payment to be taken out of final settlement if that's possible. There is certainly more than enough to go around between husband and myself, I just need someone who is willing to finally stand up to this nastiness and fight for what I am rightfully entitled to.

I am begging anyone out there to please contact me if something can be done. I appreciate the time of all those who read this. Thank you very much.
 
You will not find an attorney on here.

I think you have figured out that you are not going to win this. Can you come to some sort of agreement with your ex? Has he offered anything in Child Support?

Why do you have no income? time for you to get some sort of employment. How long have you been married for? what exactly are you asking? I do not feel you have been respresented properly but if you ex has money and an attorney with connections that puts you at the disadvantage.
I am really sorry but there is no way that a lawyer is going to take this case with no money and let this drag on for another year or 2.
 
You will not find an attorney on here.

I think you have figured out that you are not going to win this. Can you come to some sort of agreement with your ex? Has he offered anything in Child Support?

Why do you have no income? time for you to get some sort of employment. How long have you been married for? what exactly are you asking? I do not feel you have been respresented properly but if you ex has money and an attorney with connections that puts you at the disadvantage.
I am really sorry but there is no way that a lawyer is going to take this case with no money and let this drag on for another year or 2.

Married for 30 years. Unfortunately there is no agreement with my husband except for what he wants to offer. I have asked for nothing more than what rightfully belongs to myself and child. Husband worked part time at small job while I built million dollar corporation that he wanted no part of until he saw the cash it produced. There are numerous assets, and we owned more than one home. However I had to leave everything behind after the threats to my and child's life, first attorney had emergency court appearance for protection order that first judge immediately passed, and I was then advised to take child and go to 2nd home out of state for safety. Since husband was now in full control of business and NY home, judge ordered him to turn over my half of salary as well as pay bills on home we were living in (mortgage, electric, water, etc). I was to provide living essentials, groceries, etc for child and myself, which would have been fine if I received my pay. Instead husband withheld my salary, let all the bills including mortgage go, and instead gave himself a raise with my half of salary which was proven to first judge as exact figures were shown in accounting documents. Husband was reprimanded, told no self-help and was again instructed to follow the order or face contempt charges. While my attorney was drafting contempt filing, we received word that first judge was now replaced. I have asked for nothing more than what was initially ordered. He has a home, I have a home, if he now wants complete control of the business, then to pay me out of it, as I am certainly entitled to at least half, probably more than half because I started it, but I want to be fair all around. He instead sees it as though the business is all his now since I "abandoned it", and therefore I'm entitled to nothing now. This home is now in foreclosure, we've lost electric twice, lost my car due to inability to make final payment, the list goes on. Had I received my salary -- MY half, not his, not everything, just MY OWN -- there would be no problem. It is his way or no way, and that is mostly why this case has gone on for so long.

When it became obvious no one cared about his contempt, I sought work. Granted, I still could not pay his responsibilities as it did not provide an income anywhere near what I used to have from our business, but I could at least put food on the table. However as I said, husband is high-up, has many friends in many places. He sent people, friends/relatives, to my places of employment to harass me until I got fired. I lost two jobs this way and child did as well. Now with the economy, it has taken me quite some time to find my third job, another friend of his did appear there but security had him removed right away. These are all of course violations of the protection orders, which explicitly state that he is not to harass in any way nor use a second party to do so either (he is noted for this behavior, which is why it was stipulated). I now have to leave this job in order to go to trial, and when it is over and the protection order is removed, I'm sure this cycle will only continue on.

Child support is not an issue either, as the very first thing husband did under new judge was emancipate the child, which makes me sick. He managed to do this in a private conference with the judge that myself and attorney were a) not permitted to attend, and b) not able to respond to or defend in any way. Every effort to bring it up following the order has received a response that it is over and done with and no longer relevant to the divorce at all.
 
I built million dollar corporation that he wanted no part of until he saw the cash it produced.
...
Instead husband withheld my salary, let all the bills including mortgage go, and instead gave himself a raise with my half of salary which was proven to first judge as exact figures were shown in accounting documents.

How did THAT happen? Why is your husband running your company? Have you consulted anyone with any knowledge of business law?

Child support is not an issue either, as the very first thing husband did under new judge was emancipate the child, which makes me sick. He managed to do this in a private conference with the judge that myself and attorney were a) not permitted to attend, and b) not able to respond to or defend in any way. Every effort to bring it up following the order has received a response that it is over and done with and no longer relevant to the divorce at all.

The procedure of this is highly suspect. But if the child is emancipated, I assume you are not responsible for any child care costs, so child support is properly not an issue.
 
How did THAT happen? Why is your husband running your company? Have you consulted anyone with any knowledge of business law?

His violence finally became out of control. After a terrifying weekend of abuse and finally threats to our lives, we went to the police to report his actions and have him arrested (against our better judgment, as they all know husband as Mr. Wonderful) and were laughed out of the station, told to go home, order some take out and "talk things over". I then went straight to an attorney (the 1st) who told me to get my daughter and get as far away from him as possible, because if he were to be arrested, he would surely be bailed out that same night, and come home to finish the job. We went into hiding for a day or two while she had an emergency court proceeding and was able to secure a protection order. She then advised us to go to our second home out of state for safety, which of course meant leaving the business behind.

I have in fact consulted with those knowledgeable of business law, but the best I can get from anyone at this point is, "That's impossible!" or "They can't do that!" Well guess what, they have, and they did. Hence why I have now resorted to reaching out via internet.

The procedure of this is highly suspect. But if the child is emancipated, I assume you are not responsible for any child care costs, so child support is properly not an issue.

Everyone knows it's highly suspect. People are quick to point out the obvious, but I've yet to have anyone do anything about it. Husband used a two week period of time when child was out of state on a SCHOOL TRIP as proof to claim that she was "living out of state on her own, and supporting herself with her own money". She was of course still living under our roof, and was going to school, so how he managed to twist it is beyond me, however I am not surprised nonetheless. It was a wrongful emancipation and therefore I still continue my responsibility toward her regardless of his stunt. She never should have been emancipated, there was absolutely no reason for it. He merely just decided to stop with his parental responsibilities as soon as he got served with the divorce action.
 
You hit the nail on the head with your first post: you need an attorney who will not be bullied. Get a proper business attorney to look into the corporate matters, and get a proper family attorney to have the emancipation revoked. You will not find one on this board.

If you have a biased judge, appeal. If this is as grotesquely unjust as it sounds, an appeals court should be all over this.
 
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