Sara explained the problems she’d been having, then Stone told Herb about Jack’s suspicion that Sara’s current attorney was trying to get as much cash out of her as possible.
“What’s his name?” Herb asked.
“Tobias Hardgrove.”
“I’ve heard of him. Whether you decide to have me take over or not, I would advise you to find someone else. Mr. Hardgrove’s reputation is less than stellar.”
She took a deep breath, looked at Stone, and then back at Herb. “I would like you to take over.”
“I like a decisive client,” Herb said. “Send me Hardgrove’s information, and I’ll have a change of attorney filed first thing in the morning. Once that occurs, I’ll inform opposing counsel.”
“Thank you,” Sara said.
“Did you have a prenup?”
She winced, embarrassed.
“I’ll take that for a no.”
“My grandparents had one written up for me to get Leonard to sign, but I never asked him to.”
“Not great, but not the end of the world, either. How have negotiations gone so far? Has your ex been cooperative?”
She laughed. “Hardly. He feels he deserves half of my estate.”
“How long have you been married?”
“Four years, but we’ve been separated for thirteen months.”
“Does the bulk of your estate predate your marriage?”
“My entire estate does. Except any interest I may have made since then, I guess.”
“That’s great.” Herb paused for a beat. “What caused you to seek a divorce?”
“Leonard is not a nice man.”
“Did he hurt you?” Stone asked.
“Not physically.”
“Verbally?” Herb asked.
She nodded. “He was very sweet when we were dating, and throughout our engagement. The first few months of our marriage weren’t bad, either. After that, everything I did seemed to annoy him. It was like I couldn’t do anything right. He seemed to always be either yelling at me or not talking to me at all.”
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” Stone said.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll need you to go more in-depth about everything, but we can do that later,” Herb said. “Is there anything else you’d like me to know now?”
“He expected me to pay for everything, and I meaneverything,” she said. “He has a great job, but I was the one ‘with the money,’ and I can’t remember him ever contributing a dime.”
“So, verbally abusiveandmanipulative,” Herb said.
“Yes to both.”
“Do you have anything we can use to show this behavior? Emails? Texts? Voicemails?”
