“My husband abandoned me in February 2006. He inherited a huge amount of money from his father’s passing in January 2006 of which I know I am not entitled to nor have I ever asked him for any of that money. We originally had the home and all the bills (with the exception of the cable) in my name. He committed tax and FEMA fraud, abandoned me and left me without a job or any money, physically abused our cat, contracted without a license (he doesn’t even have a high school diploma), has two valid driver’s license (one in Florida and one in New Jersey), stole items from the neighbors, has illegal guns, withheld my mail, lied on his income tax for years so that he would not have to pay his ex-wife more money for child-support (working under the table), verbally and emotionally abusive, too much more to list.

My question is: Is there or do you know of an attorney that does pro bono work? My soon to be ex-husband has financially ruined me while he is living a lavish lifestyle and I need to be legally represented. There was a hearing last week on Wednesday, January 3, 2007. I did not receive notification until that morning and was unable to attend. I called the Delray Courthouse and spoke to a Judge Burton which he said this would go into mediation now. My husband did notify the judge (that morning) that he would give me the Walt Disney stocks, my Gold Crucifix that I purchased before meeting him, and half of the value of the home (which I ended up signing over to him in March/April 2006 due to my not working. When my father-in-law passed away last year my husband asked me to leave my job and help him with the estate in New Jersey so I had/have also had to struggle with loss of wages.

I then received a letter from my husband’s attorney after the hearing stating that they are giving me 10 days to respond and only agreeing to leave me with a little over $1400.00. His attorney said that since my husband paid utilities and other costs that this would bring it down to this amount. This is not what was agreed upon at the hearing.

Thank you in advance for any help that you can give me.”

Most counties have a pro bono center for legal help. It is often through legal aid. You might want to fill out their application to see if you qualify. If not, there may be some sort of lower income (asset) attorney service through the county bar association.

If an order is entered when you did not have notice, that order might be subject to being set aside. If an order was made that truly did not reflect the actual circumstances of what the order should have been, a motion to set aside might be a good first step so you can have a full and fair hearing of the issues.