Good Faith Divorce A few days ago you said, "Daddy, you know how we always talk about making a good faith effort in things."
Yes.
"Well, I don't think you're making a good faith effort at getting money from my mom."
What do you mean?
"You know how I want to do stuff like taking classes, like hip-hop dancing."
Yea.
"If mom had paid you, what is it called?"
Support.
"Yea if mom had paid you support how much would she owe us now?"
Well I don't really know. We could figure it out. Or at least make a guess. The last job she had that I know of was as an exotic dancer.
"What's an exotic dancer?"
Well some people get on a stage and dance and take off their clothes. Then they sort of slink about nude and people watch them.
"Why would they do that? That doesn't make sense."
Apparently some people like to watch others dance nude. Some people call the strippers. The people who do this are usually very beautiful in some way. Like your mom was. Some people call them strippers because they strip off their clothes. I think some people like to dance nude. I know I'd like to do that.
"I'd get cold."
I bet. But from what I know of the money she would make as a dancer I'd say she makes somewhere between $4000 and $5000 a month. I know when I originally went to court with her I would have had to pay about 40% of my income minus some formula of how much time I spent with you.
"Huh?"
Well I assume she would have to pay about 40% of the money she makes so I figure she'd owe us something like 21-22k.
"That's a lot."
I think if she never did pay us anything she'd have well over 100k in debt to us. That could pay for you to go to college.
"Like Harvard."
Yea like Harvard, I suppose, but you know I have made a good faith effort. Don't get too dreamy eyed about thinking about your mom's money. She hasn't been around or paid us anything. Since we haven't heard from her in so long and she's certainly never given me any money since that month years ago. She may have no money whatsoever.
"How much did she give you?"
$250.00
"That's a lot of money."
Yea it is. But it's not much when it's only one month. So it's important you understand that I have made a good faith effort and that we should both be strong whether she ends up helping or not. Given her past behavior we would be setting ourselves up to be disapointed if we expect anything from her. Do you know why I haven't gone back to court?
"No."
For a long time it was because I just couldn't handle it emotionally. Then last year I was ready for it but I couldn't afford an accountant. So on January 1st 2002 I began preparing to present my tax return to the court in 2003. I've been meaning to discuss this with you because I wanted to know how you'd feel about my plan to complete the divorce and force your mom to give us support.
"You have made a good faith effort!"
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