thanks for all the support and concern. as with all of the legal stuff, i choose not to publish everything here on the blog. i'm covering my butt, everything will be signed and put through the court. as for the spousal support, i likely wouldn't have gotten any because it's been so long since he left and i've 'lived without it.' that, and our marriage was so short (under 10 years). something, even something small, is better than nothing. also, there is no reason to wait until mid november to go in front of dcss. this will all be signed by the family court judge long before then...