Emergency help needed after lost legal battle

After a legal battle lasting over three years, ending a 15-year marriage, I have hit rock bottom financially and am basically bankrupt. I have turned to GoFundMe to try to restore hope in my life. First and foremost, I need help to pay back my friends who have so graciously helped me the last few years. If you feel that you might be able to help me out, please read the rest. For all of you who know me, you know I would never resort to GoFundMe if it wasn’t an urgent and desperate request for help.

First, I will sum up this nightmare in a punchline for those that like to have the condensed version. Following that, is a little more background.

The short version:

Through a legal battle lasting over three years, and costing NOK 700k, through two court levels, I have acquired personal debt due to loans from friends that I am now unable to pay back. In this same period, I lost the house to my ex, and have moved twice. I have had my son with me most of this time. After the last court ruling, I was awarded very little money, and I am now basically bankrupt.

The detailed version:

This is about a divorce after a 25-year long partnership, a 15-year long marriage, and how a split can turn really bad. We built a house and had a son. He is soon 17. The house was built from 2003-2005, we married in 2004, and our son was born in 2006. I would say we had a good life, but things turned around as my son approached his teenage years.

I am not going to say bad things about my ex-wife. That’s not my style. What I will say is we did not agree on the partitioning of the values in the estate when we split.

The house was appraised at NOK 12.5 mill in 2020. I claimed NOK 2 mill when I moved out, but was offered NOK 1 mill. This amount ignored the amount of work and money I had personally put into building the house. As a result, I hired a lawyer fall 2020. After more than a year of no progress, I filed a lawsuit in order to get my reasonable share of a house and estate that I had built in large part by myself. In the first level court fall 2022 I won. The court found in my favor and I was expecting to be awarded somewhere around NOK 2.5 mill. This would have been sufficient for me to pay my debts and get on with my life. My ex appealed this ruling, and the case was heard in the 2nd level court in early June.

My lawyer has, from the beginning, been adamant that I had a rock- solid case, and that I would be awarded what I asked for, and which according to the first level judge was entirely reasonable. I am not sure what happened in the 2nd level court, but although the three judges acknowledged all my arguments, I was awarded a very small amount of money, a big surprise and a shocking decision, according to my lawyer. I haven’t been able to figure out why yet. I am basically left with NOK 300k. At the time of this appeal through GoFundMe, it is soon one month since the decision was announced. Since then, I have been in the gutter and I don’t honestly know how I will recover.

I am 63 years old with a son to care for. I have devoted my career to scientific research. I don’t have a clue how I am supposed to earn the extra million (NOK) in order to pay my friends back. My life feels shattered, and I am in free fall.

I write this appeal in English, as many in my personal and professional network live outside of Norway. I apologize to my Norwegian friends.

GoFundMe, although quite a dramatic and embarrassing measure, seems to give some hope. I would be humbled and eternally grateful for any help you feel for giving.