Divorce Balance

Negotiation > Recovery > Enhancement

Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Dumpster Diving

His garbage was gonna nail him! Yessiree.

Or so said the two women who came to me with their "plan," just about this time of year, as it happens, back in 1998.

The former husband was headed out of town for a week, meaning that his household garbage would be left — vulnerable — at the curb. Evidence! Something about beer cans and what he was feeding the kids during his visitations.

Did I know a good finger print lab? Could I explain chain-of-evidence protocols in laymen's terms?

The former wife had already spent more in divorce litigation than it would cost to own a different Pontiac G6 for each day of the week. So this clandestine reconnoitering was more about putting something (someone) in the refuse than retrieving anything from it.

To do what the divorce court had failed to do, I suppose: Completely trash her former spouse. Her accomplice? A babysitter and friend — with nothing better to do that week.

As a life coach and divorce support group leader, I've vetted more than my share of divorced folks' plans intent on exacting similar pounds of flesh.

If that's your bent, a company called Trash Can Registry can give you real messaging impact. For less than twenty bucks, they'll name a trash can after your former spouse (including GPS coordinates of its location). That way you'll really be showing the world...

...how much you two are still as one, despite divorce.

Oh, yeah: Don't forget to sign your name.

—posted by Dell Deaton @11:48 PM EST 3/29/2005 [250]

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