03.12.2005 7:56 p.m.
Update to "the talk"

Update to yesterday's entry:

Thanks for all the well wishes and good thoughts and messages of support. "The talk" went pretty well. According to Mr. Science Girl, as soon as she sat down at the table of the restaurant, he could see she was all prepared to fight with him. He said, "Before you say anything, take a deep breath."

So she did.

Then she said, "You and [Science-Girl] must think I'm just totally greedy. You already pay so much in support and I'm always asking for more."

Erm, yeah. Pretty much.

Bottom line: He explained to her that while she may think he makes tons and tons of money, he really doesn't bring home that much. That after child support and daycare, retirement and medical/health/life/disability insurance are taken out of his check, the amount he gets for two weeks isn't very much. And when you consider the mortgage, heat/electicity and other bills (plus that pesky little deal with him being able to eat), he actually pays out more money than he brings in. Therefore, her waiting until the end of the year to demand a large sum of money REALLY isn't feasible. She seemed to understand our situation a little better after that.

So, they agreed that her fiance will put Alex on his health insurance when they get married at the end of April. He's already paying the family rate for himself and his two kids, so putting Alex's mom and Alex on his insurance really wouldn't cost him anything. Plus, his insurance ROCKS. He picked up two prescriptions the other day for less than $3 each. I pay either $10 or $20 per prescription. DUDE. I want his insurance. Oh well.

Off topic.

They also talked about custody. She said she realized (FINALLY) that we weren't trying to be underhanded or to take Alex away. She realized that it's in Alex's best interest for my husband to have joint legal custody. So, Mr. Science Girl said he'd draw up a letter to submit to the court on Monday, and he'd give it to her to sign before she turns it in.

I was DEFINITELY surprised about that. Especially since the last time we discussed joint custody or even an official visitation agreement was so heated.

I think while reading the letter he wrote her and seeing the part about having to get an attorney to go to court made her seriously consider whether or not she wanted to shell out the money for said attorney plus court costs. She realized eventually he would be given joint legal custody, so her putting up a fight wouldn't really do anything except cost her money.

Thank God for that.

They also discussed which school system she would be attending and other things.

The whole money-she-got-for-daycare-that-she-didn't-really-deserve thing is something that I don't really understand, but hey. It's not like the money that we have or don't have affects me.

So, hopefully the battle is over for now. She'll be going back to court in August when Alex starts school, so the daycare payments will drop off. Mr. Science Girl suggested to me that if his ex and her husband are doing well enough financially, that the support payments be dropped down to a more reasonable amount and that he put about $100 a month into an account for her education.

I told him that with as much as his mom (my MIL) is putting away for her, if he starts saving too, Alex will pretty much have enough money to get her PhD, whether she wants to or not.

So, we'll see.

All I know is that I'm really looking forward to August. Hopefully then we'll be better able to keep our heads above water, and I will be able to stop the game of "musical bank accounts" and trying to figure out which bills will charge us the least amount if I pay them late.

That will definitely be a relief.

Listening to: Terminator 3 on TV
Reading: The Renegade Writer


|

back | forward

�