Support a New Start for a Parent and Child

Help get my son and I to the finish line!

I’m asking family, friends, and strangers for financial help on a matter I have no control over, divorce.

Update: We just reached our base goal of $1800 to cover the cost of mediation. Thank You! It's been suggested to ask for 1,000 dollars more to cover about 2 hours of prep time with my lawyer. To get a sense of the journey so far please see my message below.

Having already been through one round of mediation to secure joint physical custody now comes what I hope is the last hurdle. Please consider donating what you can to help me reach my goal. The next round of mediation will determine how my son and I will rebuild our new life.

The mediation process involves utilizing third party experts to help navigate division of assets. The cost is $2000 dollars and does not include prep time with my lawyer. Let’s just say my lawyer charges just under $500 per hour.

I’m seeking to raise at least $1800. (there’s also one more round of mediation to come regarding our child, that just got scheduled while making this page).

Of course, every amount from $5 dollars to $20 dollars counts towards getting me closer to my goal. The divorce process is grueling and I’m juggling so much that accomplishing this goal would not only bring me a little bit of peace, but it would also help keep my head above water.

What’s it like to push through a divorce

Feeling EXPOSED comes to mind. I’m a private person and have always been responsible enough to take care of myself and help others. I’m now having to open up about my struggles to coworkers and acquaintances because I desperately needed support here in Minnesota - a state I had no connections to anyone except for family by marriage.

Being VULNERABLE also comes to mind. I’m 100% vulnerable to the whims of a very expensive legal system and to my spouse’s decisions and actions.

Lastly, the feeling of FRUSTRATION. Frustration over leaving my family, my friends, and a good job to move to a state where the only people I knew were my spouse’s family. Putting every ounce of myself into building a life here. Working multiple jobs on and off for 7 days a week for a year. To have that new foundation be destroyed in a blink of an eye. To feel you have no home, nor that I should even consider our current home to be a place I deserve to stay in to raise our son.

I have felt devastated and overwhelmed for a long time. The reality is I would not have made it this far without the moral and financial support of my community. I don’t have access to the wealth that my spouse does to coast through the responsibilities of legal fees. However, what I do have is hope in humanity to carry me through this.

Thank you so much for your consideration to help me fund the upcoming mediation next month! Feel free to pass along my GoFundMe page and leave a comment of support.