Q: What do I do when my husband wants a divorce
My husband of 16 years recently left me and our 2 children on October 18th 2017. He is living with his new girlfriend and has not spoken to either me nor our children since. Other than our Youngest son tried to spend the night with him on October 28th and it ended poorly. Two days ago, he contacted me saying for me to pack all his things for his friends to get. I did and now he is asking for Divorce. I dont know the first thing about divorce and he wants to know if I am going to file or if he is. Who should file first? I dont have the money to be able to pay for a lawyer or anything. We do have mediation on the 6th of December for custody of the children. My other fear is my home. We own it free and clear as a gift from my grandmother. Yes both our names are on the it. I dont know what to do or the next step for any of this. Any advice would be awesome.
A:
If you can't afford an attorney or the starting of a divorce process, it would be best to let him start the divorce process and pay all the filing fees. You can also start the divorce process and if you qualify for a fee waiver if that is available then you can use that route.
You should contact your local bar association and see if they have a list of any attorneys who practice custody law who would be willing to represent you at either no cost (pro bono), most likely you can hire an attorney that will be able to reduce your fees.
I would highly recommend that you utilize a free consultation with an attorney to see if they can offer you some kinds of payment plans to work with you. Some attorneys like myself, would establish a monthly fee + reduced fee for any work or counsel my office provides. Pro bono attorney might not be available during the case when you need counsel, since the amount of caseload they get they are very hard to reach. But again ask around using free consultations if and how will an attorney would be able to help you.
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