"ID's please," the reception attendant said. "We have you in courtroom 1B at twelve o'clock for session one, and one-thirty for session two. The judge will be with you shortly. Please have your paperwork ready."
Attorney of the Petitioners: George McCarthy, Esq.
service date: March 24, 2086
service in person, all parties present
Hearing date: June 4th, 2086
Joint Petition for Dissolution of Marriage
Petitioner: Keri Riley
Petitioner: Justin Kim
Court Jurisdiction: Potomac Heights, DC.
Date of marriage: November 8, 2081
Date of separation: October 6, 2084
Final divorce decree no sooner than: May 24, 2086
Proposed Custody of Minor Children:
— (see adoption file)
Proposed Division of Assets and Debts:
— no shared assets or debts
Spousal Support:
— none requested
Name change requests:
none
By the decree of this court, in the divorce case between Keri Riley and Justin Kim, it is hereby ruled that all marital bonds are terminated as detailed in the divorce petition.
1:30 pm
Petition for Adoption
Minor Child: Lillian Dawn Riley-Kim, age 4, female
Parent 1: Justin Kim, age 26, biological father (physical custody/legal custody) — no changes
Parent 2: Keri Riley, age 25, biological mother (no custody yet established) — to be altered
Petitioning Adoptive Parent 3: Stephanie Nova, age 26
Custody sought: full physical and legal
Current relation to child: Stepmother/Caretaker for 4 years
✓ Criminal Background Check
✓ Social Services Home Study Approval
Custody Alteration, Parent 2: Keri Riley — No legal custody requested. Weekend visitation rights requested at Lillian's home during military leave and at the convenience of all parties, plus up to two weeks visitation per year at Keri's currently assigned Earth-based station. Travel expenses will be paid by Keri Riley.
Child's Name Change: Lillian Dawn Nova
Child support offered: $145/quarter paid by Keri Riley for Lillian c/o Justin Kim
By the decree of this court, in the adoption case of Lillian Dawn Riley-Kim, it is hereby ruled that Stephanie Nova is granted full legal and custodial rights as detailed in the adoption petition.
By the decree of this court, in the adoption case of Lillian Dawn Riley-Kim, it is hereby ruled that Keri Riley is granted partial visitation rights as detailed in the adoption petition.
With all parties present, on the 4th of June, 2086, these petitions are signed, witnessed, notarized, and ruled by the National Court of Law in Potomac Heights, Washington D.C.
signed:
Stephanie Nova
Keri Riley
Justin Kim
- attorney: George McCarthy, Esq.
- presiding: Judge Cecil Morgan
receipt of fees paid:
✓ to the National Bank, adoption filing fee: $1000
✓ to the National Bank, divorce filing fee: $1600
✓ to Lorena Blair, social worker, home study for adoption case (Stephanie Nova), 2 hours x $50/hour: $100
✓ to Reginald Banks, PHPD, criminal background check for adoption case (Stephanie Nova), 1 hour x $50/hour: $50
✓ to George McCarthy, Esq., adoption case (Stephanie Nova), 2 hours x $200/hour: $400
✓ to George McCarthy, Esq., divorce case (Keri Riley), 6 hours x $200/hour: $1200
✓ to Judge Cecil Morgan, adoption case, 1 hour x $400/hour: $400
✓ to Judge Cecil Morgan, divorce case, 1 hour x $400/hour: $400
***
After their court hearings, with divorce and adoption decrees finalized, Bryson took them all out for dinner at the finest restaurant they'd ever seen. They spilled across two tables and Bryson paid for it all.
"They don't even have a kid's menu!" the girls said. "What can we even eat?"
"Eat whatever you want," Bryson said.
So the girls ordered shrimp that were bigger than their hands. Stephanie and Justin tried to order modestly, but Bryson said, "No, order what you really want." Keri already knew how to order what she really wanted.
They ate and they drank and they ate some more. They celebrated the reconfiguration of their family and they didn’t try to explain how it made sense to anyone. Not even Keri's mother, who stayed at home with her opinions and did not ruin the day.
It was a great day.
—
outtakes & commentary: photo ops // the dinner bill // princess Lily // after party (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
notes: I guess it should be mentioned that Keri had a pre-nup, or else this divorce could have been a bit more complicated. Not nasty, necessarily, but just complicated. Her father already took care of that house that got looted during the war probably about a year ago. That was the only thing they ever purchased together, and it was mostly in Bryson's name anyway.
Ah yes, nothing like a good old divorce selfie to really seal the deal, lol!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad but unsurprised everything went smoothly. There's always the small part of me that's worried something that *should* be as straightforward as this will go wrong! Not that divorce/adoption are easy, of course, but they all made this as easy as humanly possible.
Any reason why Lily dropped Justin's last name? I expected her to either stay Riley-Kim or become Nova-Kim/Kim-Nova.
Ha ha, that selfie was a very sim moment (and in fact was inspired by what the sims actually did in my game. Just like that, pictures then hugs, lol!). But I wanted to keep it because it felt right for them in that moment. They're just both in a really forward-thinking positive place right now and really excited about their futures.
DeleteWell, there was a significant chance that Madison could have thrown them a wrench. I had to decide whether that was a stink she wanted to make or not. And in the end, she decided to just stay home and hold her tongue. They can have one single thing go right for once. These guys have had no shortage of grief so far, and I'm sorry to say that they're not quite finished with the grief yet either. So it felt nice that things could go right for them this time.
Maybe Justin plans to be a Nova some day, too. ;)
I know it's not very traditional, but the Novas are one of my founding families and with so many girls who will probably give up the name some day, or already have. It felt too symbolic that Stephanie took back the name for her to give it up again soon after. Justin isn't the type to feel weird or emasculated by taking his (someday) wife's name. And they wanted Lily to fit in with the family, without any hyphens. Lily is young enough still that she probably wasn't super aware of what her last name is or was anyway.
I am sad that the Riley name will be lost though, because they were one of my founders, too. But it was probably always headed that way since none of the three generations of Rileys ever had more than one child.
Thank you for reading! :D
Divorce, adoption, and a good time was had by all attending. :) So glad that they've had this oasis of calm for once.
ReplyDeleteI swear, if Jeremiah was in my game, I'd be looking to get him killed he is such a pain in the arse and I just know that he's going to be causing more trouble soon.
Ha ha, I don't know if I have a personal policy on orchestrating character deaths that don't happen by natural causes, my illness system, or genuine accident (almost never happens in TS4). I stopped doing accident/death ROSs because 1.) my sims/characters cause enough drama of their own accord! and 2.) it always made me sad to see one of my favorites roll something bad that I didn't want for their story, and so I'd reroll and not use it anyway.
DeleteI suppose another character would have to be motivated enough to kill him, so maybe he should watch his back, lol! I can say though, if it were to ever happen, I would not shed a tear!
I stopped doing ROS entirely because rolling a death/break-up that I wasn't planning on always made me too sad! I may start doing them again and just take out those particular scenarios though. :)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I don't know if I've ever seen such a happy divorcing couple! Honestly though, it would be great if all couples could be so agreeable after all the initial drama and hurt has passed by and it comes time to sign the actual papers. And it's so nice to see the adoption proceeding so smoothly as well.
Now to deal with Jeremiah...
Their marriage (if you could call it that--they started breaking up just months after the wedding, lol!) went south so long ago that they've had lots of time to process all of the anger and disappointment. And oh yes, they had some! If they had tried to divorce two years ago instead, things would have been a LOT more bitter, and they would have been uncertain about their feelings and the future. I'm glad they waited to divorce. But I'm also glad they decided it was coming early on so they could both have their time to grieve the relationship and put away their baggage.
DeleteIt kind of makes me wonder how things would have gone with Jeremiah if Steph had told him a lot sooner? Probably still really bad, but just in different ways. :/
You know, the thing about ROS is that when hoods get as old and involved as ours are, they're not needed so much anymore. I think they're way more useful for new hoods where you don't have so many plans for the families yet.
Thanks for reading!
This makes it all so final now. So happy for them all and that everything went smoothly. Seeing Keri and Justin take a selfie afterwards made me laugh! What a classic! It's great they are both civil about it and towards each other. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's a big relief for them to have at least this part of things finalized.
DeleteThank you for reading! :)