Sally and Jim have been married now for 18 years. Jim just came home last night and told Sally he wanted out. He was “unhappy”. Sally thought he was happy…I mean, SHE was happy…so obviously she is in absolute shock. “What can I do to keep him.”, she asks herself. Then, when Jim heads to work the next day, she calls her girlfriends who insist that she see an attorney.
So, Sally makes an appointment with an attorney downtown, and heads off the next afternoon to discuss her present circumstance and her future. The conversation goes like this:
Sally, “My husband says he wants out of the marriage. He says he’s not happy. I do NOT want a divorce…I want him to stay and work this out with me”.
Lawyer, “Let’s see if he will agree to go to counseling, and in the meantime, let’s go through your assets and combined income of you and your husband, so that you can see where you would be financially, if this marriage ever terminates”.
After the meeting, Sally feels much better. She knows two things: (1) if Jim left, she will be fine financially; and (2) if she can get Jim into counseling with her, the two of them can remain in the marriage together.
So Sally explains to Jim over dinner that night that she wants to go into counseling with him to try to save the marriage. Exasperated, Jim explains that NO, he does not want to go into counseling…he is not happy with HER, and that in fact he has found someone else and is moving in with this new love interest.
Sally goes from disbelief to shock and then quickly to intense anger. Jim leaves the next day with a suitcase. Sally, instead of calling her attorney first…makes a few mistakes…
First, she calls Jim and tells him that she will leave the rest of his clothes outside for him the next morning. What she fails to tell him is that at 7:00 a.m. the next morning, the trash man comes for the weekly pickup….
Then, she tells the teenage children that their father is having an affair…
And finally, she removes all the money from the savings accounts and gives the money to her sister to hold for her.
Sally and Jim BOTH need good attorneys. This situation is going to escalate quickly, and with a good attorney, the matter can be diffused and put back on the right track.
The exceptional attorneys at Joseph & Joseph & Hanna, Co. LPA are ready to assist and be YOUR attorney.
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