Unshackled and Free

On my way home from my Labor Day weekend, I got a call from my Divorce lawyer. I answered the phone wondering what he would need on a Holiday. Here is how the phone call went:

Larry the Lawyer: Hey Kristian, did I tell you that we have mediation set up some time this week?
Me: uhhh No.
Larry the Lawyer: Oh, well we do and I think it is tomorrow. I will call you and let you know in the morning!

Oh great! thanks a lot.. so much for any time to prepare. He called me the next morning and said "yeah I was right, it is today at 1:30" so I had to talk to my boss and arrange being able to leave at that time.

I got to the Law Office where the mediation was to take place and had just enough time to give my lawyer the rundown of what I want and a little bit of back story. We headed up to a conference room and waited for the mediator to come. For those of you who don't know how this works, the 2 people getting divorced and their lawyers have to hash all the small stuff out with a mediator before it ever gets to court. a mediator is usually a judge or lawyer that has no interest in either side. They put you in a room and try to get an agreement. If you can't agree on things, then you have to go to court and battle it out in front of a judge.

First off, Amiee wouldn't agree to meeting in the same room, so we were put in separate rooms with the mediator going back and forth. First he was in my room and made notes of what I want. He then took that to Amiee for her to counter. At first, Amiee wouldn't agree to anything that I wanted, she of course wanted as much money as possible. The one thing that I was really surprised about, was that she wanted the van! I said, she doesn't even have a license! The mediator said "well, she says she has a learners permit and wants the van" At first I fought it, but after some thinking I realized that this was a good way for me to get out from under that van and work on getting a new vehicle like I want to anyway. I ended up getting her to agree to everything that I wanted in trade for her getting the van. Well, not exactly what I wanted because I wanted custody. But, this is Utah and it is damn near impossible to get custody if the mother doesn't agree to it. So now I have more visitation, I pay less a month and I worked out everything else I wanted. We all agreed and signed it, so now all they have to do is file it with the court and we will be officially divorced!!! I am so happy that we were able to work it out nice and fast like this. Now I will be free to move on with the rest of my life..... Wish me luck!