Signed, Sealed, Undelivered

The Spousal Unit finally signed.

She sent me an e-mail 2 days prior to the court mandated date*.  Of course, in that same e-mail was a renewed push for insurance.

Not trusting that she actually signed, given her prior history, I refused to allow myself to get excited by this news.  Rather, I told myself I wanted a paper copy of that decree—signed, certified, and recorded in the county records.

…so I waited…

The court-mandated date passed.  Given time for mail deliveries and administrivia, I did not expect to hear this soon (but was hopeful, nonetheless).

…and I waited…

Not wanting to assist my lawyer in buying her new Porsche, I did not ask her what was going on.  Instead, I looked for other information sources.  And the internet came through for me…

Our county court (and likely just about every one) has a web site of all court actions for public viewing**.  I checked under my name and—yep—there I am.

At first?  No record of the decree being recorded***.

A few days later?  A line had been added!  It said, “FINAL JUDGMENT & DECREE OF DIVORCE FILED AND GRANTED TO BOTH PARTIES”!  But, I still had no paper copy…nor was there a downloadable version on the web site.

Waiting a few days more—finally, a .pdf file.  I downloaded it and printed it immediately.  It had all the signatures (especially the judge’s!) and a stamp on the front saying it was recorded in the county records.

Still, as of today, no “official” mail copy of it…but I’m divorced.

Stuff left to do—asset splitting and selling the house—but…I’m divorced!

…I’m divorced…and out…

Wheeeee!!!!!!

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*Learned of this date while pinging my lawyer for information (at $$ each ping).  This just increased my ire.
**This will be a good source for checking up on future dating opportunities as well—I can track how many restraining orders have been thrown at potential dates.  I can see if they’ve been arraigned for spousal abuse.  I can even see if they’ve been arraigned for sexual perversions—that latter working both ways in that I can find someone with similar…or intriguing…interests… <grin>
***While not finding my decree, I did find an interesting tidbit where both of our lawyers were threatened with Contempt of Court by the judge because of the delays in getting the decree finalized in a timely manner.  <chuckle>

Tags: divorce, elusive freedom, officially official, The D word