My husband abandoned me and my two sons 12 & 13 almost 10 years ago in New York State. I tried serving him with support papers and I filed for full custody as he was a drug addict alcoholic and dangerous. He was arrested numerous times. He also cheated on me for 15 years, the full length of our marriage. In 2005 he lost it, was fired from his job, withdraw his entire 401k, withdrew our income tax refund and took off to parts unknown. My sons and I lost everything and had to move out of state to be able to start a new life. At one point he called me asking for money to get home from Mexico (I later found out). I also got a visit from a social service worker informing me that they were looking for him because he and his "whatever" at the time had a child and they believed that the child was in danger.
Now after 10 years, he gets his life together and I guess wants to marry someone. So he serves me with an uncontested divorce. He writes a note explaining that all I need to do is sign. At the end of the letter he apologizes for all he put me through. This is the first time I've heard from him in 10 years. The boys are grown now, but it was a long hard road.
He never paid support for them and probably owes hundreds of thousands of dollars. There was a point in our lives when we were homeless (only for a few days) because I couldn't find work. We finally made it and are doing OK, but the struggle, though in the past and easy to forget, it is harder to forgive. It's not just that, but I never met anyone and now it's kind of out of the picture. I'm older and who cares. Point is, that if he marries I can't even claim his social security benefits which would be needed because I don't have much paid into social security since he pushed me to be a stay at home Mom and raise the boys--homeschooling them.
So now I see a future of working until I die. Don't get me wrong I love to work, but it's getting harder since I also don't have many skills and am currently a housekeeper.
Sure he got his life together blah blah blah blah, but he's the one that screwed mine up. He screwed it all up and now he just wants to walk away. He owes me and it would surely help my life if he could pay me something, especially since he owes so much.. Besides, yeah, I want something because why should I let him get away with what he did. He threw in an apology at the end of a short note. Whoopdie doo!
My question is, since I live in Texas now and he served me from New York, can I contest from Texas without having to go back to New York? He told me in the note that if I didn't sign within 40 days of receiving the papers, we would both have to appear in court within three months...
Now after 10 years, he gets his life together and I guess wants to marry someone. So he serves me with an uncontested divorce. He writes a note explaining that all I need to do is sign. At the end of the letter he apologizes for all he put me through. This is the first time I've heard from him in 10 years. The boys are grown now, but it was a long hard road.
He never paid support for them and probably owes hundreds of thousands of dollars. There was a point in our lives when we were homeless (only for a few days) because I couldn't find work. We finally made it and are doing OK, but the struggle, though in the past and easy to forget, it is harder to forgive. It's not just that, but I never met anyone and now it's kind of out of the picture. I'm older and who cares. Point is, that if he marries I can't even claim his social security benefits which would be needed because I don't have much paid into social security since he pushed me to be a stay at home Mom and raise the boys--homeschooling them.
So now I see a future of working until I die. Don't get me wrong I love to work, but it's getting harder since I also don't have many skills and am currently a housekeeper.
Sure he got his life together blah blah blah blah, but he's the one that screwed mine up. He screwed it all up and now he just wants to walk away. He owes me and it would surely help my life if he could pay me something, especially since he owes so much.. Besides, yeah, I want something because why should I let him get away with what he did. He threw in an apology at the end of a short note. Whoopdie doo!
My question is, since I live in Texas now and he served me from New York, can I contest from Texas without having to go back to New York? He told me in the note that if I didn't sign within 40 days of receiving the papers, we would both have to appear in court within three months...
