Throwaway for obvious reasons but the wife has informed me that she wants a divorce. We had some issues, and I knew that, but didn't think it was to this degree.

It all started with us deciding to take a night apart. One night turned into three weeks now. The house that we live in, we rent from her parents on a month to month basis, with no lease in place.

She informed me that she does not want me to come home and she wants a divorce. I know it goes against the sub guidelines, but I dont want to go home. Her family is unpredictable and I don't want to be in an anxiety filled situation. I'm prone to anxiety attacks and being there will trigger that.

I work full time with a lot of consistent overtime. My wife is a stay at home mom and we have two children, both of which are not school age yet. I have all our savings in an account with my name only. My direct deposit goes into our account but I'm changing that tomorrow. As far as I know, she hasn't filed and we left it off as wanting to possibly go down the route of mediating the divorce versus going through attorneys.

I'm not sure what questions to start with. Where do I go from here? How is child support going to work with her having no income and me being the breadwinner? She has a graduates degree and I have a bachelors so her earning potential is there. Do I need to be worried about alimony? We've been married just over 5 years.

What about custody? I don't want to lose my kids. I want joint custody. I have so many questions and I'm just not even sure what I should know. I'm afraid, I'm broken, and I'm torn apart.

I need to find a way forward but I know men are at a disadvantage in divorce cases. What should I do? Do I keep paying the bills? Do I continue to pay her family rent while they are living there?

Thanks for reading.