Preschool aide, nanny, and single mother of 2 children, ages 4 and 9, working my tush off to provide for them.

I’m asking the community to help me afford the retainer and filing fees for my divorce lawyer.

I’ve been trying to divorce my ex husband since the birth of our son, nearly 5 years ago. After paying thousands in mediation to come up with a fair agreement, and filing for no-fault divorce with a joint lawyer (all of which was notarized and agreed to by my ex and myself), my ex decided to breach our contract with our lawyer and refused to sign. He stated not wanting to be legally held to the financial mediation agreement, deemed fair and just by a third party.

My ex makes 4x what I do hourly (construction-union). He also lives with 4 other adults (family who help take care of kids on his weekend) rent-free. I do not have the same support system. I invested in his career growth, retirement, and 401K with the understanding that these would help sustain me too in the future. I walked away from my career and my personal financial security to raise our children. I now have no long term safety net and no assets.

My youngest has special needs and is attending a special pre-k program that can support him with those needs, which has had federal funding stripped by the current administration. My hours of being able to work are incredibly limited; time is missed when kids are sick, etc. He does not help us during these times. I currently work 3 part time jobs around my kids schedules to try to provide for us. We are scraping by and cannot afford the fees to refile for my divorce with my new lawyer.

Filing for divorce in my county and state has a $700 filing fee. My lawyers, who assisted my child support case with minimal payment, need a $5,000 retainer to proceed.

I am no longer looking to take him back to court to hold him accountable for our original agreement. I just want to end the marriage once and for all and I’ll figure out the rest on my own.

Please help me close the hardest chapter of my life and end my legal tie to this man.