At the final hearing, Franklin sat across from me looking calm and composed while Kelly waited outside the courtroom. When the judge finalized the settlement, granting him the house and leaving me with far less than I deserved, Franklin leaned closer and said quietly, “You will never see the children again, I made sure of that.”
I did not cry at that moment, but I memorized his face as carefully as I had memorized everything else.
I left Connecticut that day and drove to my sister Joan Miller’s home in rural Vermont. She opened the door before I knocked, as if she already knew I was coming, and I stayed with her for several weeks trying to rebuild my thoughts piece by piece.
I made lists in a yellow notebook, writing down everything I had lost, including the house, the savings, and even my children who had chosen to remain distant. For the first time, I allowed myself to ask a different question, which was whether what Franklin had done was truly legal.
I called my lawyer and asked if he had verified the timeline of the financial transfers, because if Franklin had moved assets after deciding to divorce, it could be considered fraud. There was a long silence on the phone before he admitted he had not looked closely enough.
That moment changed everything for me.
I began researching on my own and found a firm in Hartford called Lawson and Pierce Legal Group, specializing in high asset divorce cases involving financial misconduct. I scheduled a meeting and explained everything in detail to an attorney named Angela Foster, who listened carefully and asked precise questions.
She told me that if we could prove Franklin transferred assets after planning the divorce, we could reopen the case. I hired her immediately and paid the retainer without hesitation because some decisions are not expenses but commitments.
Within weeks, we filed a motion to investigate financial misconduct and requested full access to Franklin’s records. Shortly after, my son Gregory called and tried to convince me to drop the case, clearly speaking on his father’s behalf.
I calmly told him, “Tell your father to speak through his attorneys, because I will continue through proper channels,” and then I ended the call.