After Mediation, now the Law (Scotland)

Has it really been the end of April since my last Blog entry? How the time flies!

Back then, we had mostly agreed what the access arrangements and asset/liability divisions were going to be. Last Monday, bit of a watershed moment, I signed the Separation Agreement. I am now officially an eligible young(ish) man.

The whole process wasn't entierly smooth. I was unhappy with one clause in the agreement concerning the mid-week contact: it was originally worded such that the X (hey! The X! Not stbx, or x2b, but ex. The X. Almost like crosshairs on a....I digress), ahem, the X could simply say no, and that was the end of the matter. I didn't say anything at the time the agreement was being drafted because it was costing £6.00 per minute (was it FBGS?) and she was digging her heels in. When my solicitor was looking over the draft agreement, this clause came to her immediate attention and she strongly advised I challenge it, which I did. Cue monstrous argument where I was accused of some fairly unsavoury activities vis-a-vis our daughter (engineering emotional abuse, that kind of thing) before finally she agreed to alteration of the clause to read that where both parties feel that the interests of the child are served mid week will extend to residency, and that where there is a failure to agree on this we'll both submit to another round of mediation. Of course, none of this can be enforced, per se, but the courts would see what the original intentions were.

So, now to the next chapter. As the Agreement has been signed, the document constitutes the missives that need to be signed prior to the mortgage provider releasing the funds to the X, at which point I should get approx £10k to put towards the £20k of debt we have accumulated. THe wisdome of a big mortgage in a falling market is certainly open to question, and I do wonder if I'll ever see the other £25k in three years time. It's alot of money, but I suspect that a great many of us are being returned to an economic 'Year Zero' so to speak. Perhaps I'm just going to be like eveyone else.

Well, that's that. At the start of next year we can officially petition for divorce. I won't stand in the way of this, I'll sign whatever needs to be signed, with just one proviso. This marriage has been extremely expensive in terms of time, emotional throughput and finance. I am not spending one sodding penny more on it. Not one. We are now nothing more than a piece of paper in a rural Registrar's filing cabinate. If she want's a divorce she can show some commitment to this course of activity and save up for it! Not one penny. Not one. Zero. Zip. Rein. Nada. Nil. Squat. Ubgger all.

I'll end up paying for it.

A nod and a wink to all!

NB - Ahhh.  And how much has this cost so far?

 Well, Mediation came to £1200.00 between us

I've paid £400.00 of her solicitor's fees  

My solicitors fees so far are about £1200.

Total cost for me once I claw back some of the fees: approx £1800.00

A bargain, apparently.