PLEASE HELP ME gain some insight and advise me so I can find the reasoning behind this in order to make a decision on what to do.
I am a mother of 2 young children and am in my late 20’s. Three years ago I found out my husband was cheating on me and I was 7 months pregnant with our second child. I decided to move to the west because I had not family where I was living. Since then, I have picked up the pieces, am going to school working on my Master’s degree and taking care of my children. I have not dated or slept with another man since I left my husband. At the time, he really didn’t want a divorce because he kept putting it off…when I told him to file if that is what he wanted to do.
(My husband and I have been separated for almost 3 years now. Last year, he started calling again supposedly wanting to be a family. He called and acted like everything was supposed to be all good. I guess word got around that me and the kids were doing well financially without him. We live in separate states. But it was mainly because he needed help financially (his vehicle got repossessed), and the other woman who he cheated on me with was not helping for whatever reason. Deep in my heart I knew he was not being for real, but I was just so happy he called. Well in a short amount of time, I could tell he was still playing around and not being serious. I found out he still was messing with that other woman.
In this time of separation, he has never willfully called for our children or even helped by providing for them. He has never tried to visit them nor has seen our youngest child in person. Sometimes I wonder if he even cares whether they are still alive or not. One time after a big argument (because I found out he was lying about the other woman), he told me to take him off child support since I am supposedly doing so well. I was furious! So about 1 week after that, he filed for a divorce. I was able to get an attorney, but he couldn’t. He lied to the courts saying he didn’t make enough money, was unemployed, and got the court filing fees waived. Well, it has almost been 1 year and neither of us has followed through with it. I told him since he is the one that filed, then he should finish it.
I’ve already filed for child support AND child custody before he filed for a divorce and was granted both. I was granted sole custody and I haven’t seen a child support check since June of last year. We have nothing to divide and have no community property together.
Another thing that is bugging me is what does he see in that other woman? She is the opposite of how I am, except she is only 6 years younger than me. He told me once, that men in his family respect him because once he breaks off a relationship with someone, he doesn’t fool with them anymore…so why is the other woman not in that category?
Sometimes I feel like he is stringing me along for as long as he can so when HE gets ready to come back, he will. But I am almost 30 and don’t want to be one of those people who is separated for 10 years. I still have my whole life ahead of me. My husband is almost 20 years older than me.
So why is he not trying to finish it? Is he just being lazy, is he using me as a reason not to fully commit to the other woman, or what?