[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Do you go for the jugular in legal matters?

[Dina Lerret]

Tonks, thanks for your message!  I know my dad had his mortgage paid
off and ~$100,000 in investments toward the beginning of 2004 when
both sides had to document their assets.  However, between 2004-2005,
he paid the full alimony and both his and my mom's lawyers fees.

After round two or three approximately over a decade ago and after
suing a national law firm, eventually triggering its departure from
Florida, getting some lawyers disbarred, and shaking up Florida's
legal system a bit, my dad was awarded somewhere between
$650,000-750,000, but his lawyer took a *huge*, HUGE chunk of that.
So, I'm guessing she'd also take a good chunk of his money again.

Doddiemoe, I don't feel comfortable about the route my mom's lawyer is
taking but she's the one who hired him... which ironically, he knows
my boss very well (mentioned something about being friends at one
point) because they're both part of the Greek community here.  Small
world.

As to my mom telling me about legal matters, my mom actually tried
avoiding it when I was younger but my stepmom whipped out a copy of a
check, showing how much my mom and I, back when I was young for child
support, cost my dad and it all started back when I was 10-12 of no
longer keeping their issues to themselves.  Later, not in my dad's
presence, she told me she'd rather see all my dad's money burn than
for my mom to get a penny.  Once I was over twenty-five, I got pulled
further into their muck, complete with a subpoena from my dad's
lawyers and their investigating my financial status because I partly
aid my mom.

Just your average 'American' family as I was growing up. {chuckle}
It'd make for a cheesy Lifetime movie.  Oh yeah, complete with various
acquired disorders. {snort}  Ah, the teen angst years.  All things
considered, I've seen others have to survive worse and they're some
amazingly strong folk.

I was friends with a co-worker for years and she was stuck in an
*abusive* marriage.  Her husband raped her, made her strip off her
clothes and held a gun up to her, and she was one of the nicest people
I've met, a person people like right away.  She eventually 'weaned'
herself away because her husband was a Jamaican drug dealer and he had
'friends', deadly 'friends', and she feared for her life, her family,
who are tied into administrative for one of the largest international
ports in the US, and her children.  She's one of the strongest people
I personally know... and ironically, she was briefly engaged to my
sister's ex-husband years before.  Small world, again. {g}  She heard
passing references of me as a kid, long before we met to share The Job
from Hell.

Other than the parental worries and only being able to afford the
'roach motel' ;-) , I'm at an okay point in life.


On 6/9/06, doddiemoemoe <doddiemoemoe at yahoo.com> wrote:

> (not angry with you...just trying to show you a bigger picture.)

No prob, I understand.  Personally, I would rather not have any
details, other than they're divorced.  Period.

Everyone in this family has their issues (e.g. personal, medical,
financial, etc) they're working on having resolved.  Many families are
like this.

Dina