To preface all of what you were about to read two things need to be known

One. I am intending to get married again.

Two. My current girlfriend doesn't care about money (really) and is signing a prenuptial agreement.

So the divorce process for me on what should've been a relatively straightforward divorce after nearly two decades was nightmarish.

Mostly because of the court system but mainly because my ex-wife's attorney is incredibly lazy and evil..... they were perfect for each other.

Anyway, everything got laid out in three court hearings.

In the first two I was officially divorced by decree but they bifurcated the final hearing in order to defer negotiations and judgment on alimony. I have the first two orders. They have been signed. I am legally divorced.

My ex-wife was awarded alimony for half the length of the marriage so for close to a decade. She also got child support even though we have 50-50 custody.

Anyway, I am still waiting on the final order and it's getting close to a year now.

Her attorney was responsible for drafting up the final order to get it signed off but of course she did a shitty job and it didn't look anywhere close to what it was supposed to be. My attorney sent her corrections that needed to be made she still had not made them.....

Then her attorney had the audacity to say he needed to sign off on the order even though she hadn't made the changes we requested.

He told her he would not sign the order until she made the changes that we requested.

But of course it's been many months since then and she's done nothing.

I want to propose to my girlfriend.

But an odd thing happened during the final divorce hearing.

My ex-wife's attorney mentioned that I had a girlfriend for some reason and the judge asked if my girlfriend was living with me while he was talking about considering how much alimony to grant.

He should not have been factoring that in but it seemed like he was considering that.

My girlfriend was not living with me at the time nor is she currently.

But I am concerned that if I don't have the final order that was agreed-upon even though it was determined in court that if I marry my girlfriend my ex-wife might attempt to take me back to court to get more alimony.

Even though everything was judged in that final hearing and we're just waiting before the sign off does this seem like a valid concern?

I am struggling financially as it is.