Divorce Separate Support Summons: Fill & Download for Free

My best friend was married to an awful woman who had a history of substance abuse problems. They dated, had kids together, and then he married her despite me begging him not to. Years into their marriage and things are terrible. They separated once and she took their children to a neighboring state to be the “third"/ sexual partner for another couple.Eventually they got back together and he developed an STD, probably from her. He grew to hate her. She was crazy abusive to him. She repeatedly told him he was a POS (amongst other things), in private and in front of their children. She refused to work once the kids were older, she would urinate herself when she became too drunk. She would hit him, spend money they didn't have, cheat on him etc.One day she was intoxicated and had all three of their children in the vehicle when she decided to “brake check” the driver behind her. It caused an accident. She was so drunk that she began screaming obscenities at vehicles passing by before being arrested by the police.I told my best friend that this was his chance to divorce her and file for full custody of their children. He would have damning proof, a history of substance abuse being that this was her 2nd offense, and just cause. He had always been afraid he would automatically have to take less parenting time and pay child support to her if they divorced so he had put off doing it. This was his chance.Instead, my friend went to court and vouched that she was a good mother. He begged the courts to be lenient. He told me that he was worried what people would think of a man who wasn't supportive of his wife when she was in such a bad situation.Fast forward a few years. Said wife pressed false domestic violence charges against him to get him removed from the home he paid rent on. Then she moved her boyfriend in. After awhile, the boyfriend realized what a liar and all around piece of work she was. He moved out. My best friend moved back in.Down the road she wound up moving out and in with a family member. She still refused to work. She managed to get a divorce from my friend without him knowing. She had a key to the mailbox and would remove the court summons while he was away at work. She inflated his income and ended up getting most of his paycheck until he hired a lawyer to get the divorce rolled back.Now he is in the boat he feared. He is paying a ton in child support to a woman who refuses to work, lives on welfare, and still can't pay her rent despite the money she receives from him. She does drugs in front of their children and dates random insidious characters. He worries about their children but doesn't have anything strong enough to make a change in the courts.We don't speak much anymore. It's hard to see him struggling after 20 years of messing with this chick. Marrying her was a mistake but I think his biggest mistake was not filing for divorce and custody of those children at the most opportune time to make their lives better.

I'm a divorce attorney in California, and a lot of people ask me that question (i.e., how much is my divorce going to cost me?). It's an almost impossible question to answer. I try to give them a breakdown of some of the costs. It really depends on how contentious the divorce is, and how complicated the issues are. If the parties have children, that's a completely different wild-card factor, and the child support and custody case will take on a life of its own, even after the divorce case is over.Many attorneys charge an hourly rate of between $150 to $500. Most attorneys bill a minimum of two hours for all court appearances (this would be for short hearings). Trials can be very expensive, and may cost between $5,000 and $25,000, depending on how many days the trial takes (most trials in family law cases seem to take a day or less). Expert witness costs can add up fast. The most common divorce trials are for custody; property division; and support (child and spousal). Most family law cases settle before they get to the trial stage.In California, there are a series of forms that need to be completed to get the divorce done, and this is a simple breakdown of what the costs might be in a typical case (just multiply the time by a typical hourly rate of $250 to get the cost): initial divorce packet (Petition for Dissolution, UCCJEA form, Summons) = two hours; Disclosure documents (tedious forms for listing all of the assets and debts) = two to five hours; final Judgment documents (Judgment, Marital Settlement Agreement) = two to five hours to complete.There are some alternatives to litigation that might be cheaper. Mediation: the parties can mediate their dissolution, and instead of paying two attorneys, they retain one mediator and split the fees. A typical mediation for a typical divorce may involve 3 2-hour meetings with the clients, plus filling out the above-forms.Collaborative divorce is when the parties each have their own attorneys, but everyone agrees that they will not take each other to court (no hearings or trials). This can be cheaper than litigation also, but I've seen it be more expensive, depending on how it's done, as the parties are expected to hire additional "support" people to help with the divorce (custody coach, divorce coach, actuary, etc).Simple, uncontested divorces can probably be done for $5,000 or less (free, or little cost, if the parties do it themselves).I have seen people spend anywhere from $15,000 to $50,000 (or more) on custody battles (attorney's fees, and private mediators). Custody battles should be separated from the costs of a divorce, since it's sort of an independant case (also, you may have custody battles where there was no marriage in the first place).Another type of case that can end up being very expensive are business valuation cases. The people that value businesses are normally very expensive.Finally, the parties themselves are a wild-card factors. If they can resolve the issues themselves, their divorce will likely be much cheaper. Other people seem intent on battling with each other, which really drives up the costs. I've seen people spend thousands of dollars fighting over personal property that was not worth nearly what they were paying in attorney's fees.When people ask me how much their divorce will cost, I usually tell them somewhere between $3,000 and $30,000.

A 100% yes and 70% no for I loved him.I am a 32 year old Indian girl, married for 4 years.First a background: Love marriage. Met during engineering. inter-religion (Hindu and Sikh), though similar class. Married after 9 years of first meeting each other.It was always my mistake. I was always a perceived threat as per him in retrospect. There were a million red flags right from college days but I truly was blinded in love.I was - more intelligent. Extrovert. Loved talking to people and was always happy.He was - Kind and charming. Always politically correct. A noble person as no-one must have ever met. Yet very angry, and complaining.I say more intelligent because I got through the engineering seat on merit, and him through his fathers money. My CGPA was always higher than his until I let it freefall for I seldom cared for marks over happiness.He was a sweetheart to begin with. Probably still is. But, was also very possessive. Enough that I graduated with almost no friends of my own despite staying in the girls hostel for 4 long years owing to either his possessiveness, or my friends (who counted) disliked him to the core and took no pains in hiding the fact. We eventually fell apart but he stayed.More often than not, when I was working my first job in an IT major company, the daily routine was - call from cab and answer who you sitting next to in the office cab, call in the lunch hour and call when you reach home.These were warning signs which I ignored and that is my biggest regret. I had grown accustomed to the interrogation. To small fights and disagreements. Enough that I resigned within the first few months of my first job and instead did MBA assuming that to be easier.However, only the reasons changed, fights did not. I was again rushing back home as soon as the class ended, never going out with girl friends from MBA class, and whatever. 2 years passed in a flash and here again I missed all the red flags.I was probably avoiding change as had lost my father back during engineering college suddenly and didn't want to loose him as well. He was my weakness. His smile and happy promises. His jokes and kindness to people.Yet again, I worked my second job. Quit. Got married.He did slap me once or twice but had always apologised profusely blaming his anger. But now, the slaps became a habit. Physical, mental, emotional abuse was the norm. His parents never interfered because they were a modern family and didn't interfere in the kids lives. Now, it was not his anger which was the cause, but my mistake who instigated him and enjoyed being slapped (as per him).I often felt alone. It was pointless to speak because it was always my word against his mother or the servant and I was always held wrong. It went down to the extent that I thought I would be blamed even if the neighbours dog died.The slaps continued. I left the home. Returned back on my mothers insistence who didn't know about the abuse and thought I will and should make the marriage work. And now, my husband openly warned me the first time he hit after my leaving home - What will you do? Call the police? Try and you will know!Such arrogance for having the right connections, a fair voice and lots of money. I had neither money, nor the connections nor voice and support of my uncles after my fathers death.So here, I start recording the abuse. And that is what all I had when I left his home finally to prove my innocence.And this husband I so dearly loved, whose words melted me and made me forget all the shit that was happening, used to tell me - I am his biggest mistake and the source of his misery.Today, this same husband says he never slapped me off his own. I instigated him and then enjoyed being slapped. I enjoyed his verbal abuses and did things deliberately to set him off.I tried communicating asking him to feel my misery. To see the pain I went through. To see the fear it instilled in me that I get shaken up by the slightest noise. It was and still is an act for him and his family.Some people advised me to go legal. To file for Domestic Violence. To get my rightful share of money and property or at least what my dear mother spent on the wedding.I’ve never had the courage to do that. There were sad lies being said about me, which quietened knowing I have him on record abusing me.And through this all, I am left nowhere. Now a 32 year old, with not a job in hand though exceptionally bright, zero confidence, a single mother supporting me and a bag full of regrets. I lost all our college friends for they were really his friends first. I lost myself in this.Today, I am a girl who no longer wants to meet my relatives for their gapes and sighs as soon as I turn, for the questions in their eyes. I don't want to step out where I was born and brought up for the questions people ask.I try to be a happy independent girl who likes to travel. But I know the cost of that smile everyone compliments me about. I am often lonely yet smile wishing the loneliness away.People who know my story say I am strong. And in my heart I wish I never had to be strong. I was happier being a simple weak girl who had love and care. No matter how many people care for me, I still find myself alone.They say they find hope and strength in me. I say, where do I go looking for hope for myself. I so wish I had a magic wand at times to just disappear and not have to go through the daily motions of life. And I wave the thought across with that smile.At times, I find myself thinking of ways to disappear. I find myself fantasising about running away, and how it would mean an end to most of my troubles. Those are the sad days. But then comes the sun, with its rays of hope and life full of dreams.And life moves on.Edit 1: I forgot to mention why its a 70% of no regret.This marriage made me who I am today. It tested my limits, and I emerged stronger, disciplined and positive in a way that was unimaginable.This marriage made me realise that I am capable of a lot more than a 9–5 corporate job. Today I am looking at public policy as a career option. I am looking at finding a solution to impact lives of 100s and eventually 1000s of children in small Indian towns and villages.I am a determined person today. All due to him. It is difficult to believe in myself often, yet I do know somewhere that I am a person capable of helping improve lives of people, not just my own.Due to him, I realised the hollowness of relationships. The marriage weeded out hollow friendships. The marriage added value to life, and made me see the facade of materialism we build around ourselves, protecting us from discomforting questions and actions.I have been depressed, yet always find the power to fight it within. Running away was never an option, and it is not now.I am going to make my life count.Edit 3 - (20 May 2020)I have filed a case against him in court.Its been a year now, yet there has been nothing apart from 5 hearings where I had to be present in every single one of those, and apparently this is going to take 4–5 years. There has been no order for even monthly maintenance due to false blame by them that I am already working and earning good amount of water. this blame lead to the order being passed by the judge to file an income affidavit again in the next hearing which is again 2 months gone. Thanks to corona, the courts are closed and there will be no respite for the next few months.I have truly understood the meaning of “tareekh par tareekh par tareekh” and how difficult it is to get justice in India.To make matters worse, he filed a separate divorce petition in another court after receiving the DV summons, leading to me answering court dates in not one but two different courts for matters which are associated. In the divorce case, the matter was sent for arbitration, where a poorly paid old woman with no sense of how to talk told me:karle compromise jitney de raha hai usme. Koi nahi milta paisa baad mein and kaat ti rehang fir court ke chakkar. Ma bhi kab tak support karegi tab tak!This is the status of Indian judiciary, and support to women from the women sitting for mediation in our courts for protecting the women. India can develop as much as it wants, but even a century maybe less to change the above mindset as well as ensure that justice is delivered without further torturing the women.Edit 2 -I have returned to this post after a long gap, and cannot thank you all for the caring messages you have showered me with.Heres a quick update on how things stand for me today -It’s been exactly three years since I moved out of the marriage, and a year since I moved out of my mothers place. She has been my pillar of strength and I am staying in a rented accommodation in my bid to challenge myself, to pay for my own expenses, and make a life of my own, away from the prying eyes of society and start afresh.I have filed a case of domestic violence against him though there has been nothing apart from judicial delay in the last 6 months. In response, he slammed a case of divorce against me which was 100% fabricated based on lies about my neglect o fan his parents and duties as a wife with an expected no mention of my own emotional turmoil.Also, I recently qualified NET in management, and would be applying to colleges in Delhi and Jaipur for the position of Associate Professor. However, most colleges demand atleast a phd for recruitment which I don’t have, nor do I have the next 3 years to do a phd and then apply.(If anyone of you is reading this, and can assist me with finding myself a job as a professor in management - finance or operations - in Delhi, Jaipur or nearby cities, pls leave a comment with the college you could refer me to.)Anyways, now you must be wondering that how am I supporting myself then! I also started working freelance for content creation and other allied jobs in a coaching institute in Delhi. It is not very remunerative but is a stepping stone in my career. I’m waiting results for few govt post exams I wrote across few North Indian states and should know what path my career takes by June this year. The exams are amongst the toughest in the country and if cleared, will be an answer to the numerous questions we women have to answer when we decide to walk out of our marriage.I have taken cognisance of things around me, bounced back with my biggest smile and am happier than I have been in the last decade. It does feel sad and lonely at times, but that is inevitable. Today, I’m surrounded by few but very meaningful friends whom I believe I can cherish for life.Also, it has been therapeutic to be able to talk about this in my own personal space and life as well. I have been questioned by few friends out of care and concern that why do I tell openly that I’m separated. My response to them and to everyone out there is -If I don’t accept my social status as a separated/divorced women, how can I expect it to not be a taboo in our society. First step would be to not make it a taboo in our own minds. In fact, the way married women wear red sindoor and mangalsutra reflecting their married status, In the near future I wouldn’t mind wearing a name tag stating my name followed by “Separated/soon-to-be-divorced”.Now to answer few of the comments -Some people seem to have mistaken that I have a child. I was wise enough to not plan a family, though I longingly wonder if I’ll ever be able to have a child of my own now.He was a Sikh, for the Sikh gentleman enquiring about this. However, this is of zero significance and I don’t blame him or his religion as the source of his behaviour.Some of you have questioned that why did I post anonymously. I can only hope that you understand that it took courage to put this on a public platform and My intention is not to malign him, but to put my story out there for other women suffering in silence. To provide hope, for a want of a better word.Few of you think that I’m weak and not strong, and trust me I agree with you. I have myself questioned the ideas of strong and weak. Also, it is one thing to feel a persons journey through their words, and absolutely another to actually live through it every single day.Thank you for recommending a book in the comments. I’ll definitely get a copy of the same at the earliest. Also, I myself read a book and found it very insightful. Every single page was resonating with me and helped me understand that the problem was not me and helped quicken the healing and acceptance. For those finding thmselves or their friends in similar circumstances, do give this well-researched book a try. It’s link is — Why Does He Do That?For the gentleman complimenting on my writing and proposing that I take up writing as a career, trust me this thought has crossed my mind several times. I have zero idea on how to start and where to start. I don’t have a degree in writing and unfortunately, the only way to make a career in India is to either have a degree or the right contacts. Pls if anyone can help me with writing as a career, it’ll be a great service to me. (I am in desperate need for a remunerative job and any and all help is welcome.)