Rebecca Meyer
Divorces can often be messy, painful, and chaotic. It’s not often that you hear of couples divorcing civilly. But even the best-case scenarios are not the easiest situations to go through, especially when children are involved.
This man and his wife are divorcing after 19 years of marriage.
They have two children together, who are 10 and 12-years-old. His ex works as an elementary school teacher.
“The split has been very amicable. Nobody cheated, and there was very little drama in general. We’ve just grown apart, and neither of us feels like we are in love anymore. After four years of struggling, we decided it was time to end it,” he said.
Since they weren’t arguing over what outcome each of them wanted from the divorce, he assumed that they could work something out without spending a lot of money on lawyers.
They came to the agreement that they would split their savings in half, as well as the custody of their children.
After his and his wife’s separation, he went through all of their finances to calculate the exact monthly figure he’d have to pay in child support based on their incomes and expenses.
“I suspect her sister has been in her ear because my ex suddenly decided she wanted to pursue court-ordered child support. I felt like I was being pretty generous, and honestly, I was happy to do so, as I make a decent living, and she needs to survive on a teacher’s salary,” he explained.
In the court hearing last week, the court-ordered child support ended up being about 15% less than the figure he’d calculated on his own.
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