#divorce financials
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Financial Disclosures in Florida Divorces: A Detailed Guide
Navigating a divorce in Florida involves critical financial disclosure requirements. Understanding these is essential, especially in uncontested divorces. This article outlines the mandatory steps and documents required by Florida Family Law, offering insights into how these disclosures shape the divorce process. Mandatory Disclosure in Florida Divorces: Florida mandates the exchange of…
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#asset distribution in divorce#divorce financials#equitable division#family law financial affidavit#financial disclosures#Florida divorce law#Florida family law#income disclosure#uncontested divorce
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this year i learned that there's a thing called "permanent alimony" (support paid to the lesser-earning spouse until the death of the payor, the death of the recipient, or the remarriage of the recipient). that alone is reason to NOT get married. nahhhh.
#social issues#marriage#divorce#marriage risks#relationship challenges#marriage pitfalls#financial risks#post-divorce struggles#family law#marital concerns#divorce settlement#marriage advice
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Queenie & Xiezi
Tw: Mention of divorce, impiled emotional and financial abuse
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Queenie and Xiezi have known each other since childhood, growing up in a small community off in the countryside. They left their small town and moved to Megaprolis to attend college, renting out a small apartment in the city with Bingo.
Xiezi can never regain the confidence she possessed in college after her marriage. She was so blinded by love that she never realised how she was losing herself. Until she was served with divorce papers and kicked out of her home with nothing to her name.
Queenie was never an affectionate person. But, Xiezi could see how much she cared even if she didn't show it. She remembered how Queenie would be her shoulder to cry on during college or would bake her sweet treats even if she did claim that she merely had "extra from practising".
She remembered when she came crying on the doorstep of Queenie's apartment, unable to speak with how much she was sobbing. And she just let her inside, not even asking her to explain or anything. She just let her in. And after all these years, Queenie's never complained once about Xiezi keeping her wedding ring on.
Queenie only complains about Xiezi and Bai he stealing the treats from the bakery. They don't speak about the two extra treats that Queenie makes with every batch.
#lego monkie kid#au#lego monkie kid au#lego monkey kid#lmk#lego monkey kid au#ivory girl au#lmk bai he#lmk scorpion queen#lmk spider queen#lmk au#lego monkie kid ivory girl au#tw divorce#tw emotional abuse#tw financial abuse#Spider queen is black coded
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I haven't seen this take a WHOLE lot, but I have seen it enough to get. Frustrated. About it.
So for anyone who doesn't get it: no, symptoms of mental illness are not, in every case, majorly or solely the result of Dealing With Capitalism. Sometimes, they can be! Sometimes the symptoms are situational, and those situations are heavily related to how much capitalism sucks! But many times they are not. I am sorry, but mental illness and trauma and neurodivergence are still going to exist even if capitalism completely goes away. We still have a responsibility to treat the people affected by and experiencing these things with compassion and understanding. We still have to. You know. Acknowledge that their life experience is going to be a lot different than many other's is.
#I promise that when my ocd onset happened at 10 years old I was not thinking about capitalism#germs are still going to exist post-capitalism. the concept of a good person vs a bad person is still going to exist post-capitalism#which means. if those are your OCD Themes™. then. you're still going to have OCD post-capitalism.#and this is true for. you know. EVERY INSTANCE OF THIS.#you take things that are rooted in trauma like did or ptsd. I hate to tell you this but mistreatment and the trauma that results from it#are still going to exist in a post-capitalist world. bad people who do bad things WILL ALWAYS EXIST. so those illnesses are likewise still#going to exist. plenty of anxiety-based symptoms are related to fears that. have nothing to do with capitalism or financial security.#they are DISPROPORTIONATE REACTIONS. THAT IS THE POINT.#if someone has anxiety that isn't completely situational. or if someone has paranoia. that disproportionate fear does not have to#have capitalism to exist. meaning. you know. those will ALSO still exist.#adhd and autism have nothing to fucking do with capitalism lmao.#the existence of. for example. schizophrenia and psychosis HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH CAPITALISM????????#like. we can talk about how much easier it would be for people to get care/accommodations under a non-capitalist system. we can talk about#how divorcing personal worth from the concept of 'productivity' would help the people who experience the things I've mentioned.#I'm not disputing that. but I've seen...a not-insignificant number of people downplay or outright DENY the existence of these#illnesses/experiences outside of 'languishing under the pressure of capitalism/tying your worth to productivity/worrying about financial#security' and that is simply not how it works my friends!#tw: suicidal ideation#like. sorry. I did not seriously consider killing myself at age 10 to escape The Disorder™ for you to tell me that all my issues with this#illness would go away forever if capitalism stopped existing LOL!! LMAO EVEN!!!!!#In the Vents#the real horror was the ableism we found along the way
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dad just sent me an ominous text to intimidate me ig
#im so tired im so tired im so tired im so tired#i really dont want to be going through this right now#can we get on with the end of the world or literally anything it would be real nice hehe#im so tired#so much scary horrible things are happening rn#and it's obviously my fucking PARENTS#i can't keep going i dont want to it's so hard#i don't even know anything anymore idk who's in the right idk who's lying about what#uhhhh whatever whatever i need to sleep#but idk if I'll be able to ugh#dads just trying to ruin mom financially even though he's got enough money already and she can't fucking work#and i get the fucking. first row seat#and now he hates me too ig idk#why would he fucking send me that text of he didn't want to let me know hes furious with me or to#scare me idk fuck this#and I'm watching another horrible divorce with a close family member a#AND another fucking insane thing has been happening that's a huge problem ahaaaa im losing#my fucking mind here#and there's literally nothing i can do here like i can sit and take it#or die ig
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Sometimes it's good to be reminded of your own freedom
#out of cosplay#i spent too long in a very toxic relationship#toxic relationship#divorce#toxic relatives#toxic friends#emotional abuse#financial abuse
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so. where do i sign up to get adopted by a queer found family?? i need. community.
#listening to my mom talk rn......i don't know when she became this conservative. facebook poisoning her mind. she sounds insane.#the way she talks abt queer ppl.....i need to leave. she's never ever gonna know the real me.#wild how my dad is like. so liberal cool accepting of everything#and my mom has swung the opposite way#(reason 12834940 why they're divorced lmao)#and i have to be stuck living with my mom bc reasons :/#i need. financial stability and security and freedom#universal income when????#i just. i can't keep living like this. this can't be it forever.#vic.txt
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ppl keep saying they're ruining betty la fea with this amazon prime continuation not knowing betty in ny exists. i assure you there are other ways to ruin something and a divorce (sub-sub) plot when the characters are in their 50's is actually interesting. sorry u can't see that.
#even if betty and armando's divorce goes through#( which it wont bc its more complicated with the catholic church involved)#they would just marry each other again bc theyre insane#i say 'sub-sub' bc its not even a driving force in the story#as always its ecomoda's financial state#(thats why we have to kill it)#betty doesnt even really want the divorce. she says she does but all her actions show otherwise.#its called having a midlife crisis.#but everybody wants betty and armando look and be the same age they were at the end ysblf#well they're not.#so i highly recommend--with no malice in my heart--to go watch ysblf and it's spinoff. you'll be happier that way.
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thinking abt the maria’s outbreak night. having many thoughts
#imagine her and her dad and kevin and his daddy were all together#maria and jack are fighting and maybe separating at this point#her dad is visiting them because its his birthday tomorrow#yes its rhe same birthday as you know who#her and jack end up going upstairs to argue when she gets home because hes been home alone with kevin and her dad all day by himSELF#when this was supposed to be a FAMILY day maria#and you leave me here with your fucking dad who hates me#he doesnt hate you#he hates me and you know it! and you leave me here with kevin who you NEVER see#dont. thats not fair#of COURSE its fair. look at today! where were you today?#maria was at work#because of course she was at work#shes always working because she has to be to financially prepare for raising a son#(and raising a son through a divorce. because she needs to get a fucking divorce.)#also there was a work emergency#(theres always a work emergency)#so she had to be gone most of the day and then in her way back the roads were CHAOS#she barely got home alive#i barely got home alive jack!#you ALWAYS barely get home#anyway they fight and then the world blows up and at some point they disagree on what to do#maria has a basement with enough food to last about three days for three people and an emergency go bag full of baby food#because of course she does#so at some point they have to decide between staying holed up there and waiting shit out#or going out and meeting with the soldiers who are going around blaring an evacuation notice#hank her dad is like Nope Do Not Trust the Government#and maria is like True#jack disagrees#he goes off on maria when she tells him they have to put it up to a vote
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This is the face of a woman who is FINALLY divorced! 🙌🏻🤩 It took 6 months, but I’m so relieved that it’s over. After 22+ years of different forms of abuse, I finally feel like I can move on with my life. Yes, I’m still chronically ill. Yes, I’m still struggling financially, emotionally, mentally, physically. But that doesn’t mean that this victory doesn’t matter. When you’re a spoonie, every victory counts. A LOT.
I’m tired. Exhausted from fighting to get here, exhausting by trying to survive. Exhausted by pain, nausea, and a host of other symptoms. But I’m still here, so today I’ll focus on that, and celebrate this victory.
#chronically ill#disabled#disability#hypermobile eds#fibromyalgia#pots syndrome#potsie#rheumatoid arthritis#trauma#spoonie#ehlers danlos syndrome#domestic violent relationships#emotional abuse#abuse survivor#financial abuse#divorce#divorced
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#I am about ready to scream#I tend to be pedantic by nature but this is... frustrating even for me#Filling out the financial declaration for the divorce#He'll have his version easy#All he'll have to fill out is the entertainment line#I'm having to calculate each expense. Food and clothes and household cleaning items and...#How much do I spend on clothes in a month? Nothing usually. How much do I spend on clothes in a year? Better question.#Not much.#Also I don't know precisely what God has planned but I am discovering that I will simply not have enough to pay ALL the bills#with the addition of the electric bill. And that's factoring in bonuses which let's face it don't get saved - they go to items that are#needed but by necessity delayed until I have a little extra cash.#I don't know... I don't know. I don't know how I'm going to do this. And I have work waiting but I HAVE to do this first...#I don't...#I may spend a few hours tonight laying flat on my face praying. Here's hoping I don't fall asleep because I can't even afford to do that.#(The courts are going to take one look at this and go “how have you been managing thus far?”#and I'm going to have to shrug and go “Dunno” even though the real answer is “The grace of God” but that's apparently not an acceptable#courtly response)#(>_<)
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it's so strange cis-het men think cis women baby trap them when literally every stat on DV and child abuse constantly disprove that. Like, you really think the person who has the most to lose in terms of physical health, finances, and resulting social standing by becoming pregnant is trapping you?
#og post#nothing just cis het men getting on my nerves again#like it's ridiculously common for assholes to sabotage a woman's birth control in order to keep her in an abusive situation#not to mention men who use children as leverage in divorce courts#or men who leave with little to no financial expectations or support soon after#and don't often experience community rejection and judgement for a pregnancy occurring under socially contentious circumstances#just ugh
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for @nosebleedclub october prompt #11 - "lawyer's office". i did write this yesterday, just horribly later posting ^^. .
lawyer’s office
.
They fill up the room that morning, the way young people always do. Hands shoved deep inside the pockets of washed out, baggy jeans, long torsos awkwardly hunched forwards, cotton jumpers with uneven strings peeking out at the base of their sternums and hoods thrown back like inverted necklaces around their shoulders. T-shirts with large logos and GAA colours. There is a pile of crumpled bank notes tossed against the scratched, ageing mahogany desk in front of them, hazardously left to die between the three-inch-thick Sweeney file and a copy of last year’s edition of Blackstone’s Civil Practice. They have emptied the full contents of their wallets, including the packaged condom one of them hastily hid back within the folds, a loud cough turning his cheeks red like a sleety, winter day.
‘That enough?’ Liam finally dares to ask. ‘We counted it up, should be about 120 -’
They can sit down, start at the beginning. The money will be a problem for later.
‘Well, it’s our landlord,’ another boy starts. He is short and broad, the nose of a boxer.
‘Yeah, he’s a cunt -’
‘Ah, stop -’
‘Alright, yeah. I’m just saying. So.’
It’s a house-share. Cabra, up in Dublin 7, six people crammed into the old bones of a brick-layered former two-up-two-down. There is an ageing extension, one that’s falling apart, and the foxes eat the mice in the back garden at night. ‘Now, your man, right? The one on the second? Well, he broke the floor of his ensuite shower, we’re not sure how, but -’
‘Probably shagging that girl who’s been - you know the one with the -’ another bearded one interrupts, miming large half-circles over his chest -
Liam shoots him a look. This is not the right place. In the silence that follows, he takes over from Shorty - his voice is softer and more cautious. Embarrassed to be here, almost. ‘Well, anyway. He’s not paying his end of the rent, so our landlord won’t fix it. Until he pays, right? But then every time he showers - well. It, like, proper rains in our sitting room, so -’ He smiles a little, shy. There is a moment of collective contemplation at the difficulty of this conundrum, at the relative guilt of consulting a lawyer behind the other one’s back, too. There’s probably a reason he’s not paying rent. Liam further adds that he tried to talk to their landlord, threatened him with going to the PRTB, but got laughed at in response. ‘Said he’d kick us out to do the renovation works. Fix the shower, then find twenty Brazilians willing to sleep on bunk beds and fill up the place, €500 a head, you know? So, I suppose we were wondering if -’
The young lad eyes the money again, nodding at it like it’ll respond. When he looks up, his gaze is pleading. ‘Anyway, we were hoping you could, you know, write a letter or something?’
A law degree is the right to use big words on expensive stationery.
.
Liam’s been here before, of course. He is familiar with the décor, the exhausted shelves that line the walls, the yellow glow of a banker’s lamp on winter afternoons, when the sky is too dark outside and the rain lashes against the windows. There is a faux-persian rug that frames the centre of the office and the lawyer replaced it once, back in the day. Perhaps, because of the old English setter that used to sleep in the corner and scratched it, and scratched it, and probably peed on it too many times. Perhaps, because of the dark stains that cups of tea and coffee had made over the years, or because of the vomit of a baby. This isn’t the kind of general practice that facilitates yearly visits by tracking heights or flu shots, but it is still the kind of general practice that watches people grow. Decades apart sometimes, the space in which they all happily go on to live their lives, but Liam’s crawled on the floorboards during appointments before, and as a teenager, he played on his tablet with his headphones blasting in the waiting room, dragged by parents who were worried sick, and often didn’t know what else to do with him.
The first time he attends, he isn’t even born yet. Playing football against her ribs under the soft curve of a rounding belly - she is a beautiful young woman, Louise. The brightest, kindest of blue eyes - pale skin and warm freckles on her skin, long blond hair that is definitely bleached but sure, you can’t have everything. She works as a secretary in an office - it is the early 2000s so probably pharma or tech or something - they don’t call her a secretary, she says, but an assistant. Her mother likes it. ‘Not that it’s any different,’ she corrects, polite and a bit shy, her fingers crossing over her stomach. She is small and thin, a stark contrast with the baby she carries. ‘It pays well, right?’
She wants it to stop, though. Wants to know if they can sack her if she says something to HR. ‘The other girls won’t talk,’ she adds, rolling her eyes. ‘I mean he’s doing it to all of us. It’s not just me.’ There were the comments and the jokes and the ‘accidental’ gropes - he even tried to force himself on her in his office once, kissed her and shoved his fingers inside her pants. She was too scared to do anything - thank God his boss knocked, interrupted, she caveats again, shaking her head quickly at the memory. Since then, she’s managed to avoid him. ‘He won’t look at me now, anyway,’ she shrugs, smiling and caressing her belly again. ‘Not with the baby.’
She wants to make sure she’s protected. It’s what her friend told her, that they couldn’t let her go until she’s back from mat leave. ‘He won’t even have us close the office on our own, says there needs to be a man present at all times to supervise, that we’re not capable.’ Louise bats her eyelashes quickly and blows her nose into a tissue. ‘Oh, you’re very kind. I don’t think there’s a need to go to the guards for that, honestly.’ Her mouth forms a laugh but no sound comes out. It may very well be a criminal offence, but getting the police involved? It’s not like her, and they have much more important things to deal with, surely. He’s just an arsehole. ‘I suppose I don’t want it to start up again when I’m back though,’ she sighs. ‘And, for the others, you know?’
She answers questions carefully, dutifully. She has the facts down and has made note of the dates and of the emails, and yes, she thinks there may be CCTV in the corridors, at least. She doesn’t know what the retention period is. And, no, she has not told her husband about this. ‘He’d just be raging. Can it stay between us, please?’
She has a charming smile, Louise. And a law degree, sometimes, pays for the welcome sound of silence rather than that of the advice.
.
He is injured when she reappears, a few years later. It is 2004 or 2005, by then, and he is hoisting himself up the stairs on crutches out on Merrion Square. She is holding the door open, politely shaking hands, and yes, she is still working at that same job, she confirms, chit-chatting as he labours up. This isn’t the right time or the right place to ask what happened with HR and it turns out that a lawyer’s office is rarely one of finished stories. Moments in life are stacked like bricks, like files on shelves, and the spines list client numbers rather than names, themselves always a secret.
She is crying proper, this time around. Was so scared when the hospital called. Their son, Liam, is crawling on the floor now, bright red hair and freckles - four-years-old and vroom-vroom-cars-I’ve-a-blue-one-and-a-yellow-one-did-you-see-that? He pets the dog, slow and gentle - Charlie’s an old man, you know? Darren almost died, Louise explains. She speaks low and covers her mouth, constantly throwing looks back at the floor behind her shoulder, trying to convince herself that her son isn’t listening to them. Darren, on the other hand, is silent and mellow. He looks down, uncomfortable on the faux-leather upholstery of the chairs that face the desk. His legs extend, then retract - once, twice. He massages his knee. He does construction, he explains in a grunt. A wall fell on top of him. He’s fine. ‘Stop it,’ Louise snaps. The doctors weren’t even sure he’d walk.
They’re saying it’s his fault, now, though. The company. They’re saying he wasn’t wearing the proper equipment. ‘No one does. It’s a joke,’ he groans. They just don’t want to pay.
There are norms specific to personal injury in those types of circumstances, apparently. A question to answer as to the burden of proof, too. Do they even have proof? And: do they have to prove Darren wasn’t wearing the equipment, or does he have to prove that he was? It’s probably lost somewhere within endless volumes of workers’ regulations. In terms of public policy, it’s hopefully the former. It would make sense. That could be looked up.
‘Well, we don’t want to burden you too much,’ Louise smiles, sniffling. She is holding her husband’s hand like a lifeline and he is stiff in his posture. They don’t have the money to be too much of a burden, it turns out. They were doing so well, so much better than the generation before theirs. The boom of the Celtic Tiger years and a delusional belief in trickle-down economics - they had a nice house and a baby, and they were thinking of having a second, eventually. ‘I’m obviously still working,’ she adds, now, swallowing, ‘but Darren’s on benefits and with the mortgage…’
It’ll be okay. Something will be arranged. The trainee can have a look. If there’s something, a no-win-no-fee route is always a possibility. It is a route that will not be preferred by the short, balding man who comes in once a month to grumble at the office books and pick up VAT receipts, but maybe that man was just born sad, who knows? The conveyancing side pays well, people down in Sandymount have too much money on their hands. Darren agrees. When he’s better, he’ll come back to incorporate his own business, maybe. He leaves smiling. She nods and sighs at the same time.
Go on, look after yourself, yeah? A law degree isn’t a medical one.
.
There was some money in the settlement. Not much but it covered the bills and the physio appointments, and Darren was able to pour the rest into the launch of Roddy’s Construction Ltd the moment the painkillers allowed him to stand up straight again. They couldn’t eternally survive on Louise’s salary and it gave him something to do other than sit on the couch, drinking cans and wallowing. They were happy for a bit, until 2008 rolled its ugly head around, that is. The equity became negative on everybody’s lips and within two years, Roddy’s Construction Ltd was forced out of existence. It was 2011 and their child was ten and in the lawyer’s office again, the clerk passed around an old Game Boy for him to wait. Louise’s tears were now dry as she signed the papers on the desk with a tight smile. ‘Well, I suppose at least this will allow us to keep the house a bit longer, right?’
Her mother died. Breast cancer, it turns out. There was €43,752 in the estate, which her brother in America is graciously letting her have in full. ‘He’s, er -’ Louise presses her lips together. Has aged a little, soft lines on her forehead and her hair cut to her shoulders. ‘They don’t need it,’ she states. ‘He and Lauren, they’ve - they’ve done quite well for themselves. Even with the crisis, it’s -’ She shakes her head again. There is a hint of irony and something else in her voice when she suggests: ‘Maybe I should have gone to America, do you think?’
Darren isn’t with her today. He didn’t believe it was necessary for him to attend anything past the funeral, and even that, he probably only attended because the notice on RIP.ie announced there would be a gathering at the pub afterwards. He has lots of friends there. The owner, in chief, maybe because her husband keeps the business running. Holds the walls with his presence, like a pillar on the stools at the bar. No, she’s being mean. He’s tried to take on a few odd jobs in a meat-packing factory near his parents’ in Drogheda a few months back. But: his knees are killing him and Louise says she feels guilty sometimes, with her functioning limbs and all the things she can’t understand; he is frying his brain cells with weed to make it stop. Maybe, oops, she shouldn’t have told the lawyer that. ‘I dunno how he pays for it,’ she lets out. ‘It is what it is, you know? Thanks, anyway. For the will and everything, I mean.’
She grabs her son’s Cars backpack off the floor by the entrance and they get a move on. With another tired smile, she closes the door behind her.
A law degree is the sigh that follows.
.
Liam is fourteen, now. They’ve left him outside again, though for once, this is ostensibly about him. Perhaps, he should be here. ‘You’ll talk to him, right?’ Louise pleads. ‘Please -’
‘What the fuck will the lawyer talk to him about?’ There is the voice of outrage in Darren again, his arms thrown up in the air. ‘I’m the one who should be giving him a fucking lecture, I’m his father -’
‘Yeah, and where the fuck were you? Countless times I tried to ring you -’
She was the one who had to get the bus to pick Liam up from the Garda station, last night. Their little baby boy. Got caught trying to nick a bunch of Canada Goose puffer jackets off a shop - the two older kids he was with were held up for the night. Liam being younger, though, and it being the first time - the guards weren’t stupid, for once. They called his parents rather than a judge, and -
‘I was fucking busy.’ Darren is defending himself. The best defence is always attack, that’s what they say anyway. ‘And, it’s you - you’re too kind to him. Always buying him shite he can’t pay for -’
‘He’s in school. He’s fourteen -’
‘Well, I worked when I was fourteen -’
‘Well, you certainly don’t work now -’
She is being unfair, he claims. He and his friend Darragh are opening up a new car repair shop down in Rialto. She easily clocks off at six from her cosy corporate gig every day, but he has things to do. Their son gets arrested for stealing now, and what’s next? She is too lax with him. That scene she made the one time (one time!) he dared yell at Liam. Boys need discipline. What’s next? Selling drugs?
‘Oh, and you wouldn’t want the competition in the house, would you?’
He storms out. Leaves her alone to silently cry again on the chair with the squeaky plastic leather that has scarred overtime. It’s okay. The officer on speakerphone echoing in the lawyer’s office confirmed they wouldn’t be pressing charges. There is no need for her to worry. She apologises. Shouldn’t have said that. Not here. She insists (insists, insists and promises) that Darren doesn’t sell drugs, she just said it like that. There is silence. Darren hasn’t been employed or had a successful venture in years. They’ve managed to keep the house. They’ve got a new car, a Mercedes that roared down the road when her husband took off just now. Neither he nor Darragh know how to fix cars, and everyone knows the kind of crowd that hangs around in Rialto. She works as a contractor for Facebook now, reviewing flagged content for days on end on a computer screen. It pays €24,000 a year. They required an undergraduate degree on the job posting, which she faked on her CV, and she’s been scared they would find out ever since.
A broken, teary smile as she reaches for the tissues on the desk again. She has calmed down. It’ll be alright. A law degree on the wall doesn’t turn an office into a police station. Actually, perhaps the opposite.
.
It is somewhat inevitable. It funds most of the small, general practices around the world, after all. She says: ‘It’ll be amicable.’ There is a pause. ‘I hope.’
Louise came alone this time. Liam is in school. She does not need the tissues, she is grand, thanks, jokes that she has grieved already. The lawyer’s office is the bearer of bad news: they will have to live separated for four years before the divorce is pronounced. Many people don’t know that, it’s an odd quirk in the law, the state finding it hard to cut off the many, winding tentacles the Catholic Church has wrapped around it for centuries. It sucks the blood out of people and families. Louise smiles. They at least got gay marriage last year, didn’t they?
Liam is living with her, she explains. They found a small one-bed in the Liberties. She sleeps on the sofa. ‘I’m applying to work for Facebook proper, now,’ she smiles. Hopefully it’ll pay more. ‘I love him,’ she explains. But she got married at nineteen and had the baby at twenty and didn’t think it would be this hard. ‘Maybe, didn’t think at all,’ she admits. ‘He’s a good kid. He was just a bit stupid for a while. Acting out. He’s been doing better since we left home, since it’s just the two of us. He doesn’t want to see Darren anymore, I -’
Her friends tell her it’ll be fine. She is thirty-five. She is still so young. There is irony in her voice again when she says: ‘Maybe I’ll meet someone, right?’ She doesn’t sound like she means it. She sounds like she wants to be left alone. She nervously toys with her wedding ring, still at the base of her finger. ‘I loved him,’ she declares, then. ‘I love him. I always felt that if I left, I was abandoning him. He changed. After the accident, you know? Or maybe I did. I can’t save him. He doesn’t want to be saved, I don’t think. D’you remember when we first came to you? When we bought the house back in 2000?’
It was an easy purchase and conveyancing is always a good way to rope new clients in. They got the lawyer’s address off of Darren’s sister, back then. The seller loved them. They made a good offer, had stable jobs and a decent interest rate. He worked in construction and she was an assistant. They’d found a property they liked in a gentrifying residential area in Drumcondra. He was from Kildare and she’d grown up in Meath. They’d met through friends in the city. Were just about to get married. Her ring was big and shiny and showy, even if it was just moissanite. He wanted people to know - see - that he loved her. He took her on a trip to New York that winter.
‘There’s someone else I think,’ Louise admits, then. Another pause. Her bright blue eyes look up again. ‘I don’t know. I don’t want to know.’ She shakes her head. ‘He is begging me to stay.’
She doesn’t. She gets herself a decent lawyer and she doesn’t stay.
.
Liam is nineteen now. His friends file out of the office in a concert of jokes and playful shoves, an army of bikes locked around the streetlamps outside.
His mam’s good, he nods, once. Moved out to Bray a couple years back and she likes it there. Has set up a small shop that sells artisanal jewellery and does the markets. He hasn’t seen his dad in a while, but on the phone he sounded alright. Got in a bit of trouble with the guards a few years back, but - ‘It is what it is, like.’ There is not much else to be said; this is watercooler conversation, not the real kind, and the lawyer’s office isn’t a doctor’s office, and it also not a therapist’s. The lawyer’s office focuses on Family law, Criminal Law, Employment Law Disputes, Personal Injury, Wills and Probate; it says so on the website. A law degree is not one that saves anyone, it’s just a prism through which to watch hundreds of lives go by.
Liam’s lips curve a little further to one side; he bites his lip with something daring in his gaze. ‘I’m doing law. In college, you know?’
And, perhaps, the landlord will fix the shower. At the very least, right?
#tw: sa#lawblr#writeblr#short story#original writing#original fiction#contemporary fiction#family drama#workplace harrassment#financial struggles#divorce#coming of age#irish fiction#emotional conflict#realistic fiction#lawyers#workplace injury#character-driven#slow burn
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going to dinner with my dad, manifesting nothing going down 🤞🤞🤞
#last time I'll see him before the divorce it's crazy#i know im an adult now and it doesn't really do much for me but its still crazy to me#i just hope he doesn't bring up something nuts and doesn't pull some fuckin trick idk man#i don't really trust either of my parents with this they're both constantly going behind my and each other's backs#so it's a tough situation I'm constantly getting prepared for some awful news even if i can't even come up with anything good..#except maybe that dad's cutting me off financially ugh.??? idk#idk well see#im just kinda nervous rn especially since im not talking to his entire side of the family so#ok ok bye#vent
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sometimes my bestfriend is like an angel in disguise istg
#i was justttttt thinking that aw it's so sad that navratri music is playling everywhere and i don't have friends to go with#like last year atleast i had tuition sorta friends but now ive isolated them too it sucks#but i was like well it's okay ill do it when i grow up celebrate every festival i didn't get to in my house because we just never do#and then she calls and she's like let's go this club jahan every year famous hota hai full celebration#and i was like ehh i don't want to i don't even know how to play and ill have to convince dad for raat can't we just#go to a cafe or something dopahar mein uske liye i don't even need permission#and she even agreed but she sounded sad and disappointed about it so i was like well fuck it you want to go club na#and she was like yeahhh so i was like aagh okay and i asked and we're going tomorrow!!!!!#and it's so ridiculous like i just say i don't want to go but it's actually so exciting to go someplace other than a cafe!!!!#and i was complaining to her ki okay ill go but i won't dress up and five mins later me and mumma are making full outfit with dupatta#style decided jewellery she has saved for years that are specifically navratri types and she's like we'll get my blouse altered it's fine#you know being sick has really given me perspective on my parents#im not going to hate my mom anymore i never used to growing up i always thought she was brave but helpless#but a stupid day in 12th i realised when we were talking that technically she COULF get divorced she just#doesn't want to because she'll be alone and she thinks we're growing up and leaving anyway so why should she let go of financial#stability for us. which is wild to me because girl you can't buy anything you want without his permission so i don't understand what's the#point if he's rich or poor but whatever whatever she's been raised this way etc etc#but anyway being sick really made me realise who the real monster is😭 all dad did was shout horribly at me all the time#and was like don't you dare take meds they're fake this is all just junk food stop eating it and you'll be fine. when i was literally#having 103 FEVER.#and mom was the one who was making me different drinks juices cutting up fruits staying with me as i get my blood drawn#checking my fever sote jaagte#like wow i literally wouldn't have gotten better if it wasn't for her and i couldn't believe how attentive and nice she was being#like yes i understand she just thinks this is her duty she's just playing her role a mother a housewife but still#idk i just realized that okay atleast she's good at being a mother dad isn't even that why am i feeling good about him when his love#not even love his politeness is so fucking conditional#and mom healed me even tho i told her about clubbing and drinking lots of alcohol she's kinda against it because she's seen#horrible things in life family yucky men but still she understands ans trusts my sister mostly and know we just do it for fun and she#wasn't even mad!!!!!!! like wow ooay#moms love is actually not conditional for the first time in my life i felt like if i fall maybe she could be there to catch me and dad wld
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