** at the bottom of these divorce documents (previous divorces and future ones, of which I think Bruce and Pamela were the only ones I had so far on this blog) I've added a section of notes and amendments as they go back and forth with their lawyers. I won't be writing a story update for every single little squabble in the divorce proceedings, but I'll note what things are happening "off-camera" as they happen in case anyone is interested and for my own notes.
*** also note, in case anyone was doing the math: I'm calling Willow aged 4 years old for the story because I feel like her character is 4-5 years old maturity wise and it suits the story I wrote. Although, as a sim in my gameplay world and according to the dates, she won't be 4 for nearly eight more months. That's totally a minor detail in a game where we don't even have freaking toddlers, lol! But, in real life, there can be a world of difference in a child's maturity between the ages of 3 and 5, and so it matters to me in the writing.
And so, the divorce papers...
__________________________________________________________________
Attorney of the Petitioner: George McCarthy, Esq.
service date: January 7, 2086
service by: cellular phone call, answered and verified
Petition for Divorce
Petitioner: Stephanie Nova (2145 Brant Street, Lakeside Heights, MI)
Respondent: Jeremiah Day (current address unknown)
Court Jurisdiction: Lake County, Michigan
Date of marriage: March 20, 2080
Date of separation: December 18, 2085
Final divorce decree no sooner than: July 7, 2086
Dependent children:
Willow Nova, birthdate: August 5, 2082, age 3, female
— Mother: Stephanie Nova, age 26
— Father: Jeremiah Day, age 28
Proposed Custody of Minor Children:
— Full physical custody of Willow Nova should remain with her mother (Stephanie Nova), citing patterns of abuse, manipulation, and uncertainty for the child’s safety. Also citing Willow's established home, birthplace, and family, and her father's plans to move with military reassignment.
— Legal custody of Willow Nova can be negotiated as shared between both parents.
Visitation schedule to commence
— Visitation with her father (Jeremiah Day) should take place every second and fourth weekend from 10am Saturday to 3pm Sunday at the Nova family home, or another pre-determined location in Lakeside Heights if arranged within 48 hours of the visitation date.
— Visitation with her father (Jeremiah Day) will be supervised by her grandparents (Alice Nova, Jeremy Nova) or another court approved supervisor, allowing for revision after one year of good standing and psychological evaluation.
— Travel expenses for visitation are to be paid by the father.
— Willow Nova is not to be removed from the state of Michigan without prior written and notarized consent of her custodial parent.
Proposed Division of Assets and Debts:
To remain with Jeremiah Day
- savings account, valued at $2,680
To remain with Stephanie Nova
- vacation cabin in Three Lakes, Ontario, Canada (pre-marital property) valued at $34,000
- White Jeep SUV, valued at $2995
Proposed Division of Debts:
- no joint marital debts
Proposed Spousal Support:
- no spousal support requested
Proposed Child Support, to commence immediately:
$85/quarter paid for Willow Nova c/o Stephanie Nova
Name Change Requests:
- no change
The Respondent, Jeremiah Day, has hereby been served this petition for divorce, and has 30 days to seek modifications or response. If no response, the divorce mediation will proceed as “uncontested.”
—
notes and amendments:
*** updated to the current point in the story, contains spoilers
— Jan 7, 2086: George McCarthy/Stephanie Nova—divorce petition served.
— Jan 10, 2086: Jeremiah Day is arrested for a domestic disturbance (in the presence of two minor children). Held 36 hours, no bail. Fined $250.
— Jan 11, 2086: George McCarthy/Stephanie Nova—petition to revoke visitation privileges against Jeremiah Day, pending full psychological evaluation and court-appointed supervisor. Court date TBD.
— Jan 11, 2086: George McCarthy/Stephanie Nova—restraining order filed: Jeremiah Day is not to come within 200 yards of Stephanie or Willow Nova. Court hearing date to defend: Jan 29, 2086.
— Jan 14, 2086: Jeremiah reports to South Carolina and seeks legal advice.
— Jan 29, 2086: final protective order hearing. George McCarthy on behalf of Stephanie Nova gives text and voicemail message evidence, in addition to the domestic disturbance event on 1/10/86. Angelo Shaw on behalf of Jeremiah Day cites personal emotional stress and PTSD from the war. Jeremiah asks that he be granted some time for therapy and recuperation before custody is determined. The request is approved. Jeremiah is granted 6 months with a Protective Order, which will be lifted only upon completion of a 180-day probation and PTSD therapy sessions, 8-weeks of psychological evaluation. Protection named for: Stephanie Nova, Willow Nova, and Lillian Riley-Kim.
- Divorce and custody proceedings will resume after 6 months. Settlement conference to negotiate set for: August 8, 2086.
— Feb 21, 2086: Angelo Shaw/Jeremiah Day request a home inspection/social worker visit for Willow Nova, citing the affairs of Stephanie Nova and Justin Kim create an unstable family environment. Inspector finds the citations are unwarranted, home environment is satisfactory.
— March 24, 2086: George McCarthy/Stephanie Nova request a full criminal background check on Jeremiah Day.
— May 14, 2086: Angelo Shaw/Jeremiah Day request an extension to pursue anger management classes, parenting classes, and life coaching. Request for Stephanie Nova to pay half of the costs.
— August 8, 2086: settlement court date. Jeremiah Day is granted 35% of the sale of Stephanie's cabin. Jeremiah Day is ordered to supervised visitation with Willow Nova every second and fourth Saturday. Review after three months.
— August 24, 2086: case suspended. Jeremiah Day is charged with felony aggravated assault, attempted kidnapping, child endangerment, fleeing the scene of a crime.
— February 4, 2087: divorce granted by default.
I love that you draw up divorce papers, lol! And I think the terms all look pretty fair to me, though I'm thinking Jeremiah might disagree.
ReplyDeleteUh oh, is my nerd side showing? lol! I think the thing is I just finished writing a novel that featured a divorce that I had to research heavily for, then this story came up, which has two prominent divorces in it. After that, it felt too simple to do a sim-ish "pay a fee and you're done" kind of divorce.
DeleteHa ha, of course Jeremiah will disagree! Here it comes... ;)
Additionally though, even after all the research I've done, the points I'm using for my gameplay divorce papers template is WAY simplified vs. what real divorce papers look like! You know, gotta keep it fun nerdy, not tedious nerdy, lol!
DeleteI agree, it is fascinating to read the details and think about what each party might think.
ReplyDeleteThat's the fun part for me, too, going back and forth in POV. And then I have to try not to be biased in what *I* want to happen vs. what should realistically happen or what my characters want to happen. Some really interesting surprises come up sometimes.
DeleteDefinitely keep it fun! For Simdale Valley, I'm trying to do that too, not follow just what I want to happen, or what my characters want, but what is a realistic outcome/consequence. But for the legacy I don't worry at all about realism.
ReplyDeleteWell, I can see why Jeremiah would disagree, Stephanie gets all the great assets and Willow. In real life, I haven't seen a divorce go through that so heavily favored the woman (though of course I'm on Stephanie's team!). My friend here in CO has to pay for her daughter to visit her dad in FL, which I think is a joke, she's trying to amend it to 50/50 travel costs since her daughter flies solo now that she's 12.
ReplyDeleteI think its great that you put up divorce papers for this!
True, she's asking for way more than half, and Jeremiah is not going to be happy about that, but she’ll just have to prove why this isn’t an ordinary 50/50 kind of divorce. I haven't known many people IRL to get divorced, but I've read postings about a lot of cases for research. She has every right to keep Willow in LH because LH is Willow's hometown and where all of her family is. (Keep in mind, their move up north is still kind of off the record.) And because Jeremiah is voluntarily moving away from Willow's hometown (he re-enlisted by choice after the war ended), the travel expenses would fall on him. And that causes him trouble with custody, too, because he hasn't seen Willow since she was six months old. No court would order Willow, at the age of 4, to travel that far to live with someone she doesn't know for part of the year. He'll have to establish a relationship first for a couple of years, and then when she's a little older he might be allowed to take her for longer school breaks. (That is, if he doesn't get himself into even more trouble...) But establishing a relationship will require him to travel every other weekend to be with her. So it was kind of his own dumb fault for trying to force them to move away with him because they didn't have to, but now he does because he has military obligations there. Doh!
DeleteAs for the cabin, that could get tricky because they didn't have a pre-nup. It was gifted to Stephanie from her aunt before the marriage, so it isn't marital property even though they lived in it together for a year or so. Because she's selling it anyway, they might make her give him some of the proceeds of the sale. To be honest, she doesn’t care much about the cabin or how much money she gets from it (as long as she can pay her lawyer in the end), but she won’t budge about custody of Willow.
Thanks! I'm glad you guys find all the nitty-gritty interesting like I do, lol!
Oh hai Angelo Shaw!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea that he's become a slightly unscrupulous lawyer now that he's grown up.
Ha ha! Yes! I was wondering how long it would take for anyone to find his name there (because I think I had him unnamed in the story piece). He has a neat story about how he came to grow up the way he did. You'll get to see him in action in a few more chapters.
DeleteHe is still very young though, fresh out of law school. So he has a lot to learn.