A Fool and His Money...

I still haven't completely figured out the rules of play here, but after seeing one of the masters at work I'm getting better at calling time outs.
No one, at least no one resonable, wants to make life difficult for someone else on purpose. I actually believe that in some small twisted way. But reality sets in eventually and you realize that there are some individuals who will go all out in their quest for revenge.

*Quote* "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Damn Skippy too. Let me elaborate. Since my divorce some 10+/- years ago, I have seen and experienced things that no one should ever have to retain in long-term memory. Insane phone conversations where a picture formed in my head of that person, reminding me of a scene out of The Exorcist. You know, where the girls head spins around backwards and she spews forth incredible amounts of a vile substance. (in my case it's verbose) Or public beratement where the primary audience consisted of all minors. Or my favorite, where during mediation (sort of a "pre-trial") one set of facts and figures are uncovered and, at court, it's a whole new ball game folks!

Here's how it works. Say there is a pending court appearance involving a recalculation of support payments. Both parties have the option to resolve their differences through "mediation" where a court appointed individual tries to alleviate the case burden by resolving any differences outside of an actual court appearance. Sounds simple, right? In theory it is. Any agreements made during mediation are legally binding and it can usually be done in a matter of minutes. However, in my case that wasn't the end of it. You see, during the mediation process both parties had to provide proof of income and related child care expenses. Included in the calculation is Insurance costs, daycare and contributions to 401k plans. Simple. A column of pluses, a column of minuses and Bingo!

The Magic Number.

Oops. According to the official talley folks, I've been paying too much. Not a lot, mind you but somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 a week. Now that might not seem alot, but for me that represents a utility bill. She still receives a rather respectable amount, but it's interesting to note that she now earns more than me.
I didn't know that. Of course putting her through nursing school might have helped. I'm still in the cnstruction business (more on that later) and haven't seen a real increase in pay in the past 15 years.

That's right.

Of course I'm unemployed now, so even that little revelation is irrelevant. But the fact remains, she earns more than I do.
I don't mind, really. I have my own little successes along the way, and I'm not a greedy person by nature. As long as I have enough to live on, and have enough left over to provide something for my daughter down the road and indulge me in my hobbies (gardening and teaching myself programming), I'm ok. But that's me.
Apparently there are those that have loftier goals. The accumulation of wealth.

More.Gimme. Gimme more.

My ex is one of those. However, she does have a forgiving side. Why just not too long ago, she forgave her first husbands child support debt to her. Not that that's legal mind you, but since she hasn't sued him for arrears (the State would take her case) the five digit back arrears amount will probably never be collected.

That's right. FIVE digit arrears. As a matter of fact, our local newspaper had published the names of the top offenders in non-payment of child support a while ago and he was in the top ten.
And why should she try. She is never going to get the money from him or even try to especially since she has tapped into the bottomless pit that is my wallet!

But I'm the "bad" father. Why, she even has her father convinced that I drank excessively, beat the kids and loafed around all day while my poor ex-wife struggled to make ends meet while she attended nursing school full-time.

Oh wait, he has me confused with her first ex. Sort of. He did have the drinking problem (Still does from what I hear. He would arrive drunk at the house for visitation with their two children and she would forbid him to take them) but I put her through school. Took two and sometimes three jobs at a time to do that to make ends meet, but it was all for a good cause.

She now earns more than me.

But back to the mediation. She was so incensed the amount of chid support was going to be reduced that of course she wanted a redo.

So fast forward to the trial and lo and behold, we now have the new and improved numbers to work with. The more expensive insurance. The 401k account that just surfaced. Even daycare was more expensive. Funny, I just saw these numbers not over a month ago and there wasn't all that.
So now the formula is "corrected" and the results are in folks! I need to pay more!
Ah, so that's how it's done. And the best part, it's all legal. Even if she decides to cancel her 401k, switch to the less expensive medical insurance and convince her parents to take a couple of dollars less per week for daycare after the hearing.
I would need to prove all of that.
Just because I know these things, it's not enough to be able to go back to court.

Besides, I'm getting real tired of hearing about Sam's kids.

Next: The Art of Deception