I posted three months ago, click here to get the background (please):

https://www.reddit.com/r/Divorce_Men/comments/1j3p5g6/preliminary_protection_order_in_effect_facing/

So the update:

I secured a rental condo (two level townhouse style, with another unit above, three bedrooms for myself and two children, about 1 mile from the family home). $2800 a month for rent. I did this because regardless of the outcome of the protective order, I needed to secure housing for myself and my two children to ensure that I'd have 50/50 custody. Turns out the false arrest for domestic violence didn't show up on the background check. I had a friend who is a realtor run my name for me to ensure nothing showed up on my background check.

The protective order case was originally scheduled before the criminal court date, so my lawyer recommended and requested a continuance for that case, which pushed that court date after the criminal court date. The logic for doing this was because generally you want to avoid the possibility of self incriminating in a civil case when there's a related criminal case after that (what you say in civil court, can and will be used against you in criminal court).

For the criminal domestic violence court appearance, my lawyer thought it best to subpoena my 11 year old daughter to testify, as she was the only other witness to this exaggerated weaponized claim of being pushed that my demon wife made. He wasn't sure that a judge would even allow her to testify due to her age, or whether the judge might instead allow her to speak inside chambers, but as it turned out, neither of those happened. My lawyer was able to speak with the prosecutors (there was a junior female prosecutor and a senior male prosecutor), and was able to convince them that the claim of domestic violence was exaggerated and weaponized for leverage in a divorce, and that the body cam footage obtained demonstrated that her primary concern was the divorce, finances, and possibly even retaliation for having been involuntarily committed (rightfully) , as she mentioned her lawyer (numerous times, including that she had called her lawyer before calling the police), how she was going to have to pay for my lawyer, and how she was "treated like a criminal" when she was placed in custody for the temporary detention that led to her month long involuntary commitment, and that I had lied to the police about her psychotic behavior (completely false, and documented proof of her psychotic behavior).

The male prosecutor pushed back initially, attempting to shame my lawyer for attempting to allow my 11 year old daughter to testify, and that he would cross examine her with no mercy, and "that would be on his (my lawyer's) conscience". The prosecutor then proposed a diversion program, but that would require a domestic violence anger management counseling course (12 weeks, paid by me), but that would show up on a background check. My lawyer refused that, and finally the prosecutor offered a continuance for 6 months, the only stipulation being that I get "counseling". Not anger management counseling, just counseling, with no parameters on number of sessions or any specifics on provider. After the continuance and counseling, moving to dismissal of the charge. I agreed to this offer, and have been seeing a therapist through my employee assistance program at no charge. The next court date for this is in September.

Two weeks later on 4/3/25 was the protective order hearing. My lawyer was able to convince my wife's lawyer to drop the case, as I had secured the townhouse for myself to live in, allowing her exclusive use of the family home. He was able to do this by letting her lawyer know that I had clear video evidence of her assaulting me numerous times (I took lots of videos during her psychotic year of 2022), and that if she proceeded with the protective order hearing it wouldn't go the way she thought it would. My lawyer also was able to get her to agree to 50/50 week on / week off custody in the interim while we continue to work on the rest of the terms of the divorce settlement.

So, since that date, I've had my kids every other week. It sucks not seeing them every day, but it's certainly better than the alternatives of a protective order or continuing to cohabitate with my disgusting jezebel demon wife who is now the "cumslut", "painslut", "soulmate", "primary" "goodgirl" to some "daddydom" she's in a "relationship" with, posting explicit pictures on her fetlife profile about her desire of him and other nauseating attention seeking perverted posts.

My lawyer has reached out to her lawyer in an attempt to iron out the remaining issues of spousal support and child support, as well as division of assets, payment of equity in the family home, etc. and so far has not gotten anything back.

At the moment, I'm content to let this go for now, as I've been enjoying establishing a baseline of peace by not interacting with her, but shortly I'll confer with my lawyer, and might just have to file for divorce and then file for pendente lite support, since she thinks she's just going to continue to ignore the whole process of the divorce and not pay me anything. It's been 16 months since I received her lawyer's initial email in January of 2024, and not a single draft of the "comprehensive marital settlement proposal" has been received.