I wish I would’ve found this subreddit when I first started going through my divorce. So I’ve been married for 8 years, my wife and I split everything 50/50. Neither of us have college educations so we worked in retail, fast food, etc whatever to make ends meet for 5 years. I’m in the Army Reserve so I was deployed to Iraq for a year. During this time I was making twice what I normally make, tax free. Well, by income went up and her spending went up. I told her I wanted a divorce. I wasn’t happy, her spending was very out of control and irresponsible. We decided to work it out.The only reason I had any money left to show for my year in Iraq was because I re-enlisted tax free for 15,000. I got a job with the government after I got back from Iraq. We had to move to another state to make it happen and when we got there, she couldn’t find a job. For 2 years she couldn’t find a job and my income, which was great, covered everything. Later, I get see an opportunity to come to Afghanistan, so I take it. I’m making 3-4 times what I normally make and I start seeing a trend of her spending again. I tell her I want a divorce, I separate our bank accounts and I get my own bank account and I start seeing a huge difference, money kept coming in and was hardly going out. I still covered some expenses for her, a rental car while her car got repaired, etc. I get hit with Spousal Support. I start laughing cause we don’t have any kids, but my lawyer wasn’t laughing so I guess it’s pretty serious. All said and done, I’m giving her 17k over the next 3 months until our divorce finalizes and this’ll settle all claims. No spousal support, no alimony, over and done with.

I guess it all just shocks me because I made something of myself, I worked hard, put myself in dangerous situations to make more money and I get punished for it. Whereas she’s a freaking lazy bitch who mooched off my money. I feel good about the 17k pay off and now I don’t have to worry or stress about having payments for the next 5 years or something. Because of the 17k payout I’m extending my tour in Afghanistan to recover the expenses of paying her.

TL,DR; Married 8 years, always worked in shitty jobs for us to make ends meet, I get a great job and file for divorce, wife takes claim to my money and wins, WTF