Warning: rant ahead

People suck.

Most of you are probably aware that Darling Husband and I have been hoping to get custody of DH's son by the end of the summer. We thought this would be a straightforward process. DH had a number of conversations with his ex-wife, in which she agreed that Son should come live with us. We spoke to DH's lawyer and she said it would be a cut-and-dried process. Draft up a new custody agreement, everyone signs off on it, a judge stamps it, away we go. Simple. Not time-consuming. And much, much better for Son in the long run, as his mother agreed.

Until she didn't.

As I feared, when push came to shove, she didn't agree. She couldn't even admit that she had once agreed. As far as she was concerned, she didn't agree to shit. Which she told us, repeatedly, in a number of extremely heated phone conversations. Which meant we went back to the lawyer, who told us basically that we were screwed. If she didn't agree, we couldn't do anything. No judge would yank him out of there unless we could prove physical harm. (Note: PHYSICAL, not psychological.) So now we're stuck paying an exhorbitant amount of child support to an emotionally unstable and psychologically immature woman who will no doubt raise her child to become exactly the same. We can't even request additional visitation without her consent.

I had to wait a couple of days to write this post because otherwise I would have filled it with all sorts of identifying details, including direct quotes from her, to show you all exactly how unfit this woman is to raise a child. Especially a boy. But I will attempt to take the moral high ground and not. The one silver lining in this cloud is that a close reading of the original custody document revealed that we retain the right to claim all federal and state dependency exemptions. Meaning we can file an amended tax return for this year, and get a big pile of money back.

Let this be a lesson to all of you: don't get divorced. Ever. Better yet, if you have any reservations about marrying a person, don't. And if you have even the tiniest shred of a tickle in the back of your mind about the other person's ability to raise a child, DO NOT REPRODUCE WITH THAT PERSON. UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

That poor kid. This whole thing just breaks my heart.