BM filed a "modification petition" for CS and postsecondary support in April. DH didn't receive notice of it until May. The petition did not include any financial information (as required by law) or any specifics on what SSs plan to do now that they've graduated from high school. Under our state's law, DH had 20 days to respond or he would be "defaulted" and essentially the court could order him to pay whatever BM requested (or would guess what his income was and demand he pay that). So, we got DH a lawyer who responded in that timeframe and requested financial documents.

To update my previous blog, DH replied to BM (via OFW) that he has not been working and cannot contribute to college costs right now. He said if his employment situation changes he can determine a contribution. He pointed out to BM that he never said he would continue to pay CS or take out a loan for SKid. He said if Skid took out a loan and his employment situation improved, he could help pay the loan back.

We are in the home stretch with SSs. It seems as if both will graduate in June and we will be done with CS. BM has been pushing both of them to go to "school". One wants to go into a trade and DH (who works in a trade) could get him into a paid apprenticeship program, but BM is pushing him to consider "trade school", which would require tuition and would not provide paid on-the-job learning and would lead to him earning a lower rung credential. The other SS insists he is going to college and is telling everyone now that he is going to "flight school".

My stepsons are months from turning 18. One no longer comes around because he has a job and a girlfriend. All fine with DH, who now talks to him on the phone fairly regularly. The other one comes around, but barely interacts with DH. He will either sit on the couch and watch loud videos on his phone or sit in his room. The weird thing is that when he sits in his room, he always keeps the door open. I know he knows how to close it, because he always closes it when he leaves the house or when he goes to bed.