troubledchef Posted December 6, 2011 Posted December 6, 2011 Hello. I have taken a break from this forum for a while. I was an avid reader and found some comfort in many of your stories during some dark days of my crumbling marriage. We have since seperated (physically) and have been living in seperate apartments since August. We share time with our twin 4 year old daughters almost exactly 50%. We (or should I say I- she has never taken any kind of responsibility fiscal or otherwise) have been using a system where we both pay into a joint account for joint expenses. The largest of which is daycare which amounts to about $24000 anually. This also includes common expenses for the girls such as clothes co-pays etc etc. The figure is weighted in her favor since she holds the insurance and I pay her half of what is deducted from her check. All told this amounts to something like 40+% of my takehome pay. I'll spare you the further details of the accounting. Needless to say things are tight (I live in the Boston area where housing and other expenses are on the high end of the scale). My wife and I make nearly the same money. Last tax year she exceeded my income by $600. She has since taken a new job where she earns about $10000 more than I. My question is what can I expect in terms of a divorce settlement? There is no way I can afford to pay anymore than I already am. We split time and have similar enough incomes. Clearly alimony is not an issue, but I am hoping that shared custody and a somewhat functional arrangement in place will negate any gouging in child support. Anyone in Massachusetts (no fault even though she had the affair and still dates the OM) especially who might have any insight into these matters? This is assuming I can find a way to pay the divorce attorney LOL. We havent officially determined that we are divorcing and have tabled the conversation until after the holidays, though that is the outcome I expect. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!
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