Help Gina with Legal Costs

Hi friends, I’m reaching out asking for assistance for a friend of mine who’s going through an unthinkably difficult situation.

To protect her identity/avoid her ex coming after her or people who donate to this campaign, I will refer to her only as “Gina”.

In 2021, Gina’s husband left their family home after having an affair. There was a history of domestic violence/abuse but the abandonment was completely unexpected. He immediately stopped paying his portion of the mortgage and bills, leaving Gina to make up for the lost income on her own. Gina works full time but has struggled to cover expenses that were formerly shared with her husband.

Gina filed for divorce within the year and used up her savings covering the legal cost to do so.

While gathering documents for the divorce proceedings, Gina found sexually explicit pictures of a minor person known to her family, which her husband had uploaded/shared online. They were ‘hidden in plain sight’ among folders which they used to store scans of bills and receipts.

She immediately reported what she found to the authorities and the online file host storing the images. Now, besides handling a divorce and household costs on her own, she is facing additional costs related to his alleged criminal activity online.

Her husband had left a computer at the family home, which appeared to be broken, so she sent the device to a professional recovery service to attempt to recover any further evidence. It seems like the computer was intentionally sabotaged. Intensive services were needed to recover any data, and this ended up costing her $3000 in an already financially strained time. She took out a loan to cover the hard drive recovery, which she is still paying off.

We do not anticipate that Gina’s husband will contribute to the cost of their divorce, and if criminal charges do end up being levied against him for what she reported, he may become insolvent. Gina could also potentially lose her home in two different ways as a result of this situation: either via the home being repossessed as a result of fines levied against him if he is charged/convicted, or if she is unable to continue paying the mortgage on her own without his help. She is unable to elect to sell the house or move elsewhere until the divorce proceedings are complete, which may take 1-3 additional years from her lawyer’s estimation.

At this time, I am looking to help Gina with her legal costs up to this point. I am also looking to make it possible for a close family friend of hers to move from out of state and live with her as a roommate to make her cost of living manageable again. Ideally, I would like to come as close as possible to getting her back on her feet from the beginning of 2021, but if even a portion of one of these costs could be recovered for her, I am sure that it would make an amazing difference in her life.

Gina is a beloved member of our community who has been suffering in silence, not wanting to discuss this situation openly and chance her husband realizing that he was reported for child exploitation material. Below is a cost breakdown of the funds I am trying to raise to help her find a better future after this heartbreaking series of events.

$3000 - cost to recover the hard drive

$4588 - cost to file for divorce

$2000 - cost for interstate moving truck/moving roommate and her belongings from out of state