nce I'd been served the petition for divorce by DF in October 2002, I was advised, by my counsel, to cease using any joint banking accounts. During the nearly 4 month separation I'd opened a separate checking account to track marital obligations that I was satisfying alone, such as the mortgage, car payments, insurance, property taxes and the utility payments.
When DF returned to the home, purportedly to reconcile, I was concerned about the evidence we'd be required to submit with the form I-751 later that spring. He'd been gone for almost 4 months during the separation, and prior to that he'd never contributed his earnings to our joint accounts. Consequently, shortly after his return I informed the bank that we would be resuming use of the joint account and transferred the balances from my private accounts back into the joint account and began using that once more to establish bona fides for presentation when we filed to remove the conditions on his residency. This would pose significant problems upon his abrupt departure once again in June 2003.
After DF filed for divorce the second time, the joint account was once again frozen with all funds in it, upon advice from our respective attorneys. I was left managing all of the marital debts and expenses from my income alone. This, in itself, was not difficult, but the additional expense of legal services, counselling and a sizeable stock option that was maturing and requiring payment early in 2004, placed an enormous crunch on cash flow. I was forced to limit luxuries completely, and had to conserve on expenses dramatically. My territory is very cold in winter and I found myself cancelling services for television, long distance phone service and had to cut out all forms of entertainment entirely. It was a struggle, to say the least, and I often sacrificed heat and hot water, to ease the burden of the large gas bills for winter. I approached the issue with an eye to it being quite temporary. After all, I'd be divorced in April 2004, just two months hence, and could return to a sense of normalcy then.
Relations with my family were still strained. They were angry with me for attempting to reconcile and therefore contact was limited to the odd birthday or national holiday, and even then, I'd make a cameo appearance for a few minutes to retire to my hostile habitat once more, just to keep the peace.
Given that compromise to my normal lifestyle and no companionship at all in the area, Doug's absence and lack of contact for the entire Valentine's Day weekend was all the more disappointing and left me feeling extremely isolated.
When DF returned to the home, purportedly to reconcile, I was concerned about the evidence we'd be required to submit with the form I-751 later that spring. He'd been gone for almost 4 months during the separation, and prior to that he'd never contributed his earnings to our joint accounts. Consequently, shortly after his return I informed the bank that we would be resuming use of the joint account and transferred the balances from my private accounts back into the joint account and began using that once more to establish bona fides for presentation when we filed to remove the conditions on his residency. This would pose significant problems upon his abrupt departure once again in June 2003.
After DF filed for divorce the second time, the joint account was once again frozen with all funds in it, upon advice from our respective attorneys. I was left managing all of the marital debts and expenses from my income alone. This, in itself, was not difficult, but the additional expense of legal services, counselling and a sizeable stock option that was maturing and requiring payment early in 2004, placed an enormous crunch on cash flow. I was forced to limit luxuries completely, and had to conserve on expenses dramatically. My territory is very cold in winter and I found myself cancelling services for television, long distance phone service and had to cut out all forms of entertainment entirely. It was a struggle, to say the least, and I often sacrificed heat and hot water, to ease the burden of the large gas bills for winter. I approached the issue with an eye to it being quite temporary. After all, I'd be divorced in April 2004, just two months hence, and could return to a sense of normalcy then.
Relations with my family were still strained. They were angry with me for attempting to reconcile and therefore contact was limited to the odd birthday or national holiday, and even then, I'd make a cameo appearance for a few minutes to retire to my hostile habitat once more, just to keep the peace.
Given that compromise to my normal lifestyle and no companionship at all in the area, Doug's absence and lack of contact for the entire Valentine's Day weekend was all the more disappointing and left me feeling extremely isolated.
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