Ladybird, I appreciate your perspective. There's nothing for him to take from me other than what's still in the apartment (none of which has any meaning to me, it's just stuff). No house, my car's about to die any minute now so I'll be buying a new one in my own name. I really don't have any money for a lawyer - and that's a fact, not a feeling. We have no savings, no retirement funds I can draw on, no family I can borrow from, etc. I work part time and drive a car with 278K miles on it (the life of a musician!).