Now: I sought L advice because he was starting to get angry and entittled and and trying to bully his way back in the M. I was advised that I should have 5 months emergency funds stashed away. I opened my own account and moved slightly more than half our savings money so it could be used only in an emergency to protect myself.
First domino: I explained to him that I needed this because I didn't trust him to pay our bills and in case of D I needed to have this so I would feel less vulnerable. I told him I thought we should still continue with MC and decide together if we should R or D and that I have not decided yet just making sure I was prepared.
Next Domino: I get crickets from him as to what he is thinking. He takes all the money out of our checking as I did not touch this because we have bills. All checks start to bounce. Still no return calls or text from him. I go to the bank and use emergency funds I just set aside to square the checking account.
Now what do I do? He has become angrier and angrier at me. He feels I am selfish and unforgiving and trying to control the situation. He acts like the victim. My MC says he is full of rage and anger and maybe we can get through this with time.
Do you think I poked the tiger and ruined any chance that we may have had at R? I just felt so powerless and the more angrier he was becoming the more desperate I was to make sure I had the money to protect myself. The thing is it felt so unnatural for me to act sneaky and take the money behind his back. I felt I could not share my plan and why until I had secured the money. Now I feel I will be forced to file as he will pull his paycheck, hence next two dominos. I'm not exactly ready to D yet and to throw away 17 years of M. Any thoughts for those of you who were here? I will also post in other threads.
[This message edited by JessicaFL127 at 8:17 AM, July 26th (Friday)]
"But you said your vows, and you closed the door On so many men who would have loved you more" -Cath, DCFC
"The most amazing things can come from some terrible lies"
I know you are hurting and want the man you married to come back. I was there too. I know exactly how you feel. If that ever happens, then you decide if R is what you want. Until then, you are stuck with an angry, hurtful, cruel man who obviously could care less about whether your basic minimum needs are met and whether he ruins your credit and financial future.
Honey, he's dangerous. Poke the shit out of that tiger because he sees you as a weak piece of prey. He is not on your side right now. He's shown that and you need to act accordingly. Please don't let the hurt and your desire to R cloud your judgement about the rest. Take care of you and only you. Leave him to fend for himself.
I just read your profile. You are great at telling this story. Great with expression and words. Please don't be offended, but you did make me laugh.
I loved "this is the whole truth and nothing but the truth."
It does sound extremely iffy about your WS's character and ability to ever make you feel like you could believe or trust him. At least you'd have this awareness as you trudge along with your thought processes and reminding it's NOT YOU. It's him.
You're in IC? He's in IC?
Good luck and hugs.
You need to protect yourself, and you need to do it now. This guy will destroy you if you don't act fast. He's already shown you a glimpse of what he's capable of. Loving, remorseful WS's do NOT act this way!
Marriages that start this way, stepping over the bodies of loved ones as the giddy couple walks down the aisle, are not likely to last.
Domino 1 - He invests all your money (including kids college funds - without telling you) and looses it! This is financial infidelity.
Domino 2 - Ow #1 Domino 3 - OW #2 Domino 4 - OW #3.
Domino 5 - b/s Story 1 Domino 6 - b/s Story 2 Domino 7 - ....
....You get the idea.
I'm sorry, but if this is his reaction to you taking a perfectly reasonable step to protect yourself, given what he has done (that he admits to) - He is off his rocker!!
The financial history alone would give any rational person the only reason they'd need for you to have removed some money from the checking acct.
{In fact as a fairly rational person, I'm wondering if you have proof that the money was invested in the stock market at all ... or is there some other expensive habit in play?}
After being so blatantly selfish - his latest move pretty much says it all. I don't see how he is R material - there is no remorse here.
((eyesrnowopen)))
As for the EA bit with 3 women??? A man doesn't break up a 17 year marriage when he hasn't even slept with an OW. He's a liar as well as a bully. Get tested.
This is what I did when my life was spinning out of control...while all the paperwork is in the house, make copies of everything you can - pay stubs, tax statements, investments, pension statemenst, deeds, bills,bank statements, insurance, vehicle registrations and make sure you have his Social Security number. Take pictures of all assets. Set up your own credit card and bank account. Then hire a shark, whether you D or not. You have to protect yourself. NOW!
Let me tell you what happened to me..... I heard the advice on SI for many months. My dday was 3/2011. I joined SI the same day. We "tried" R for 7 months... Which I really believe now that the A went underground but I digress.
We had mentioned the possibility of divorce and he said he would always be fair to me and make sure I was taken care of with a roof over our head (at the time kids were 1 and 4). I had been a SAHM since the first one was born.
When we separated in oct of 2011, he wanted to move into his "own" place. Since I didn't have any income, we lived in a rural area, and 2 little ones I decided to move in with my parents just 60 miles away. He was so angered that he denied me access to all of our money (over $40,000), tried to take my house keys away from me, admitted in court that I needed to ask permission to take MY OWN clothes out of the house. He even said that I needed to pay my lawyer fees out of the child support I was receiving.
We are finally divorced although I still have a few financial issues to clear up....$30,000 later. That's just the lawyer fees... And no my child support never covered it. I had to go to court to order him to release the money.
He tried to withhold money from me as a way to take EVERYTHING from me. He was angry that I stood up for myself.
Please, please, please learn from my mistake. Don't be afraid that protecting yourself is ruining things. If he was really caring about you he would understand why you did it. Right now you need to protect yourself and file for divorce or at least separation so he can't open or close any accounts or spend outrageous amounts of money. Once the order is placed it prohibits things like that.
Right now he is trying to control you... Control is not love, manipulation is not love... Right now he is not being loving at all.
(Hugs)
My ipad does a lot of crazy typos.
Big hugs. I'm so sorry.
Update: we are set to go to MC Monday. He says he has a lawyer and we can sort out the bills between us or pay the lawyers to do it. He says he loves me and wants to see if we can we can salvage the marriage. He wants an opportunity to show me he is truly remorseful.
What should I ask for on Monday? How do you sort out finances without L involvement? I keep thinking that he does not want D and in MC and IC is a good sign and that he long as he is in MC and IC we should be able to sort some of this out so I should not push D yet? Can you give me advise on what I should ask for from him?
Jessica: I have a lawyer. I know he is not my husband but I keep hoping if he had more time and MC he may get it. It has only been 5 months since DD and 2 months since we started MC.
Sucks: Your right, my desire for R is clouding my judgement. I wanted to protect my self by securing the Emergency funds but now he will pull all financial support. So now I will need to file. He says he won't and we can work out an agreement. We are meeting MC to talk about it.
China stuff: that is the million $ ? Why can't I pull the trigger and DTFG? Maybe because I feel he just needs more MC and time.
Thinking: the lack of character is what makes me doubt that he can do the work for R. This why i am separated and working on me and seeIng an L. I'm just not ready to pull the trigger yet. We are also both in IC. Why the F can't I just D???? What more do I need?
Take: I know you are right he has not shown me he is R material.
Poppy: I have been tested. So far - I have copies of all bank statements etc. to my L
Courageous: thank you for sharing your story. I do hear you and I will keep in contact with my L and make sure I am safe. My heart broke seeing how you were trusting and he hurt you. I thank you for this and it will make me more cautious
Life: I too get the feeling that now he wants to hurt me. $ got the most severe reaction from him. Maybe he will calm down and the MC can get thru.
Fooled; how do I get out of this fog?
In
I think you're doing great. If you're ready for this step - do not falter. He has had enough time to come clean. it takes one moment to come clean, not 4 months (3 years in my case).
My XWH walked out the door 2.5 mo into an affair and pretty much never looked back. Knowing what I know now, I'm grateful for that.
Keep posting eyes - SI is an amazing place - I could not have survived without it.
[This message edited by persevere at 11:51 PM, July 29th (Monday)]
DDay:2011 Status: D 2011
Above all, be the heroine, not the victim. - Nora Ephron
It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. - J. K. Rowling
It took six months, I had to get a new lawyer and then threaten legal action before he started to cough up any money for me & the kids. I couldn't believe it. The people here at SI couldn't believe it. My lawyer couldn't believe it. It still makes me shake my head that he would do that to the children. I can see him hating me that much, but the children?
My point?
You're probably getting divorced. Right now you need to consider your WH a hostile adversary, if not an outright enemy. DO NOT RELY ON HIS GOODWILL OR FLOW OF FINANCIAL GENEROSITY. You make sure you do whatever you need to do RIGHT AWAY to ensure that you & your children are taken care of financially. This may mean some kind of legal paperwork set up through a lawyer.
Any man who will divert his paycheck without telling you as a punishment tactic will also cut you and your children off financially. I now know what it's like to send my kids to bed hungry or with only toast for dinner. I urge you to be VERY shrewd and bold to protect yourself. This kind of thing happens. See if you can prevent it from happening to you.
We had been in (false)R for 3 months and had negotiated the settlement the whe time as I had insisted on separating for a year once we sold the house. I wanted everything to be 'clean' whether or not R worked out. I thought we had come to a mutually beneficial settlement - he confirned he was happy with the agreement whether or not we ended up in R.
10 mins later we broke up. He morphed into the arsehole I have to deal with now basically overnight.
I have just spent c$50k to get 50% of our marital assets. He earns more than double what I do yet tried to insist on 50/50 girls expenses. He only pays c$600 p/m CS.
And 20 weeks later this 40 y/o loser tells me he is ready to introduce his 24 y/o office gopher, prior OW (I didn't suspect a thing - trusted her taste more than his fidelity) to my little girls as his GF.
I too thought goodwill and flexibility would help avoid a scorched earth divorce. We could have been amicable/friendly - he decided to become hell bent on ruining me any way he could instead.
I recount this story to you as a warning.
There is no venom in true remorse - whether in R or S/D.
Protect yourself - you'll kick yourself later if you don't.
Spoke to my Lawyer who asked if I was ready to file for D. I said since he pulled his check out I felt I had no choice but to file. My L suggested I ask him to put his check back as a condition to consider MC.
Before all the drama I asked my H to support me in asking my son not to take his X box to the shore(that's the beach for all those who don't live near the jersey shore). He agreed.
A few days after the drama he picks up the kids and goes upstairs to help myy son pack. On the way out I ask my son, in front of my H, " do you have your Xbox in your backpack? My son says no. I did not check. Never thought about it again. When the kids came home, I unpacked and there was the Xbox. I confront my son with his lie and he tells me Dad packed it. He immediately feels disloyal and pleads with me not to fight with Dad.
With IC I have figured out what to say at MC to reflect where I am. I should just D but I am hanging on to a sliver of hope that this man can R.
MC: Before I get to ask, my WH says he was wrong to block credit cards and he is putting his entire check back in our joint checking. (Good I didn't have to ask). He says he understood my fear and realizes that I am financially vulnerable and only trying to protect myself. He reacted without thinking mand he also reacted out of fear. He realizes his fear was a unfounded and he should have waited to talk to me first. He denies being angry( I saw him as hostile and angry). The MC tells me I need to accept my H's feelings and if he says he was not angry but afraid, I need to accept this. I ask him to help me understand why he was afraid since he makes three times the amount of money I make. He said he was afraid of loosing control and not knowing what was going to happen. ( now we are getting somewhere. Control. ).
I bring up my son and ask him to give me his word that he will not mention this to our son. He agrees. He tells me that was wrong and he validated the lie with the fact that he kept my son off the Xbox all weekend. (Not the point). He understands the lie and particularly teaching my son to lie and disrespect me is the point. He says he lied to avoid confrontation.
Summary: He agrees to being honest and putting his check back to get us to before the drama where we can continue M.
I agree to table the As for now while we work on communication.
I ask for actions not just words.
He asks for me to accept how he is feeling even if I don't understand why he feels this way. This is at the crux of his non communication and conflict avoidance. I understand that he is entitled to his feelings but I feel he uses this as an excuse to lie and cheat. The MC says I can accept his feelings without condoning bad behaviors. (I'm thinking that is one clear goal I have not to ever again accept disrespect, cheating, lying ). I'm way ahead of you on that one.
The saga continues
[This message edited by eyesrnowopen at 3:28 PM, August 1st (Thursday)]
