Hello, my name is Michelle. For over one year, I have been going through an increasingly stressful, highly adversarial, litigious, belittling, and contentious divorce. From the beginning of the divorce, my husband led me to believe that we would work together in the best interest of our grade school daughter. That has turned out not to be true. Once we set foot in the courtroom, he has done everything he possibly can to keep her away from me. Currently, he has sole custody, sole decision-making rights, and she lives with him. He was able to have the judge order that I have supervised visits only, which I must pay for. I cannot afford those. I have spent 5h of leisure time with my daughter since January 26, 2025. A friend paid for the supervisor for me. I do not get to go to family functions at her school. Photos and videos I repeatedly ask for have never been sent to me.

My husband was given sole possession of the marital property, our house, during the divorce. He and our daughter live there. He was also given permission by the judge to sell my car. Now I have no transportation. I was forced to leave with only a few hours to gather my things.

I had nowhere to go and was told to get a hotel room with a kitchen because I might be there for a while. As time went on, I realized no financial arrangements were made to pay for me to live at the hotel. I currently am unable to work. I have had to borrow money from family. I had to turn to begging friends on my social media accounts for donations so I could/can pay for my hotel room so I would/will not literally end up on the streets of Chicago. I have been blessed to have so many generous friends that have donated money so that I could stay at the hotel. I have been here since February 5, 2025. I expect to be here for several more months as this divorce has no end in sight.

I began the divorce with legal counsel but could not pay my attorney’s fees for March 2025. My attorneys withdrew from my case. I currently have no legal representation. He has top-notch representation. He can afford it. This past summer, he took an extended weekend in North Carolina with our daughter. He also took her for a ten-day vacation staying in a resort on property to Disney World. He is able to take pickle ball lessons for himself, put high end gas in his car, make mortgage and utility payments, as well as home insurance and insurance for his two cars and two motorcycles. He bought some new furniture for the house, as well. That is just some of what he is able to afford to do, and he is unemployed by choice.

The donations from this GoFundMe will enable me to reduce the amount of constant stress, anxiety, and triggering of my severe, diagnosed C-PTSD. This is caused by the ever-present demand I am under by giving me the ability to pay for my hotel room in advance. I will also be able to hire an attorney, as I do not qualify for one because I am technically still married to my husband, and our financials are still tied together. I will be able to pay for a supervisor so that I may see my daughter, with whom I had a super close bond, regularly. I will also be able to begin to have the freedom to let go of these worries so that I can begin the work I need to do to start my road to recovery from the C-PTSD I was diagnosed with at the beginning of this divorce. Thank you for your generosity and for affording me the opportunity for a better future for myself and my daughter.