SK, you must know that it is tremendously hard to raise minor children on a $50-$60K salary in SD County, CA. That’s why, after re-reading the OP’s posts today, when she stated that she didn’t expect to work for at least ~20 years, I saw an opportunity to encourage her to get legal advice. Sorry if that doesn’t seem “PC” to some Piggs.
You can’t believe how many 50-65 yo (formerly solidly middle and upper-middle class) women I’ve assisted with domestic filings previously (thru attorneys I’ve contracted with) who were truly in financial dire straights because they didn’t have any current work experience (or any work experience at all)!
One particularly heartbreaking case was a 66-yo Chula Vista native (as was her spouse) who both moved up to WA state in their late 50’s and bought an A-frame retirement house for all cash in a very woodsy, “bucolic” area with an inheritance she got from her mom. During their 7-8 years there, he couldn’t keep steady work and she had never worked so they borrowed off the house to survive. Their house subsequently went into foreclosure and they subsisted on the rest of her inheritance. When the foreclosure sale notice was posted on their door, he left and moved back to the SD area to stay with his kids, got his old job back and filed for divorce after six months residence, during which time she was evicted from their home when it was foreclosed upon. She ended up having lifelong friends from HS drive up there in two pickups and move her all the way down here, put her stuff in storage and put her up for awhile so she could answer the divorce petition she had been served.
That case is just the tip of the iceberg.
One certainly can’t eat and live under their clothing, jewelry and vacation photos for the rest of their lives!
