Long story short, I think divorce is unavoidable for me. I don’t want it, but I’m pretty sure she does. She at least wants separation, but I think I need to quit cold turkey so I can have space and try to move forward (we own a home together, share a car, have a 15 year old, and there is no discretionary income to get one of us out of that).

She hasn’t made very much money for the last several years. I’m making about $100k gross annually, she’s making about $22k gross annually.

I’m concerned filing will cause her to chase alimony and child support. Again, we have little to no discretionary income, and post divorce it will likely be near the same in expenses for me.

Are there things you have done to bargain to not be chased for alimony/support? Please don’t get me wrong, I love me daughter and will always support her, and I feel terrible even thinking about not supporting my wife, but I need to focus on me and protect my wellbeing, and that’s looking like it’s going to hurt her financially. No matter what, she’s going to have to get more work.

Speaking with some others that have gone through divorce, and thinking myself about options, here are a few things that have popped ip as examples:

-me paying for our daughters health/dental insurance -letting her claim our daughter on the taxes to get the child tax credit -me assuming all of the shared debt, which prevents her from going through bankruptcy, and possibly prevents me from going through bankruptcy too