Chapter 22 - The equalization payment
Property settlement entered before custody final.
Net house proceeds:
$289,000.
Division after agreed credits:
Me:
$150,500.
Lucas:
$138,500.
Then HPS offset:
I receive additional $22,000 equivalent through retirement/cash allocation.
Retirement equalization:
QDRO transfer from Lucas to me:
Approximately $18,500.
Joint savings split.
Vehicles:
I kept Subaru, assumed loan.
Lucas kept truck, paid off partly through HPS asset sale? Ensure separate. He kept personal SUV with loan.
No spousal support.
Child support according to final schedule once entered; temporary adjusted later.
Attorney fee contribution:
$11,500 Lucas to Dana trust account in installments.
No giant settlement.
No punitive loss.
Then Lucas complained:
“I’m walking away with less cash.”
Dana’s spreadsheet showed:
Not necessarily less net value.
HPS liabilities reduced his liquid position.
That was his business.
Then I signed.
This time:
My lawyer present.
Every page read.
Questions.
Edits.
No yellow tabs placed by Lucas.
When I reached the line about Hargrove Project Services, it said:
Emily receives no ownership interest in HPS after receiving agreed valuation offset. HPS obligations to Mercer remain solely obligations of HPS and Lucas to extent legally applicable; Emily assumes no separate personal liability for Mercer note.
There.
The exact opposite of Saturday’s forced acknowledgment.
Then another:
Property settlement is independent of parenting schedule and shall not vary based on future custody modifications.
I stared at that.
Dana said:
“You asked for it.”
“Yes.”
Then I signed.
No triumph.
Just relief.
May you like
Lucas signed separately.
No one threw papers.
