Priya finished her report in winter.
She called it a valuation analysis with several assumptions and limitations.
I called it the thickest document I had ever paid to read.
She identified consistent business earnings, existing debts, equipment, and other financial factors.
She addressed the transfers to account 4821.
She reviewed the Ridgeway payments and separated charges supported by services from items requiring further explanation.
The report did not declare that every dollar was marital property.
It did not accuse Scott of a crime.
It concluded that the company's possible value was materially higher than the near-zero figure on his original proposal.
Scott's attorney retained a separate expert.
That expert used different assumptions and produced a lower valuation.
Leah prepared to question the differences.
She warned me that expert opinions were not court orders.
Numbers had to be tested.
One afternoon, Priya met with us to explain the report in plain language.
“Think of two people looking at the same store,” she said. “One counts current profits. One worries about future risks. They can reasonably disagree. What they cannot do is ignore the actual records.”
I pointed to the section about 4821.
“What was Scott hiding?”
“That's not a conclusion I can make from the accounting alone,” she said. “I can show what was omitted from the initial disclosures and what the transactions represent in the available documents.”
For a moment I felt disappointed.
Then I realized I had spent too many years living with someone who always claimed certainty.
I could survive careful answers.
At home, the winter heating bill arrived higher than expected.
I sat at the table with my first full-time pay statements and the household budget.
The numbers were tight.
The mortgage payment alone took a large portion of my income.
Temporary support from Scott helped cover children's costs.
But I could not safely assume it would continue forever.
I called the mortgage loan officer again.
This time I had employment verification.
I asked for realistic options based on a possible settlement, not a hypothetical windfall.
He explained that a refinance would still require underwriting and sufficient income or assets.
He also explained the approximate costs of keeping the property.
The monthly figure made my stomach sink.
That night Mara and I studied a spreadsheet.
“If you sell,” she asked, “where would you go?”
“Maybe a smaller place inside the same school district.”
“Would that be the end of the world?”
“No,” I said.
“Would keeping the house at any cost make you happier?”
I looked at the row showing monthly expenses.
“I don't know.”
We sat with that for a while.
Then Ben came downstairs asking whether we had marshmallows.
Mara found a bag in the pantry.
We made hot chocolate.
The kitchen smelled like cocoa.
For twenty minutes, nobody discussed asset values.
At the next attorney meeting, Scott offered a proposal.
He would keep the business.
I could retain the house if I assumed the mortgage and waived certain claims.
The amount offered for balancing the settlement did not match the range discussed by the experts.
Leah explained why the proposal carried financial risks.
“Can we counter?” I asked.
“Of course.”
“And can we calculate what I could actually afford?”
“That's exactly what we should do.”
So we drafted a counterproposal based on a realistic division of equity, debts, and business value.
There were no threats about custody in it.
There were no speeches about who deserved punishment.
Just numbers, parenting provisions, deadlines, and safeguards.
I sent the signed authorization to Leah.
Then I took the children sledding on a small hill behind Mara's neighborhood.
Ben fell off his sled three times.
Ellie laughed so hard she fell backward into the snow.
Their gloves were soaked when we got home.
I put them on the radiator to dry.
The divorce was still happening.
So was their childhood.
Click here to continue reading: PART 13: At Mediation Scott Finally Heard What It Would Cost to Keep Saying He Owned Everything
The Night Scott Put Divorce Papers Beside Our Dinner and Mistook My Signature for Surrender
Part 12 of 16
