From torn down to built up — tired of the OCD and constant put downs

“A retired teacher client was married to a retired dentist for 40 years and was much younger than him. He owned a dental clinic and on the side, invented things. He had a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder and required her to wear gloves and always use bleach to rid the house of his perceived idea that there was mold. He was always bad with money and went to Las Vegas and spent $8,000 and she was ready to leave him. He told her how stupid she was and that she could never make it by herself. (I hear this from my clients all the time). She was scared to leave him, and mentioned how worried she was that he hadn’t saved for retirement.

She refused to sign a refinancing agreement on their house and instead came to me. Her husband was hiding money, which I learned through subpoenaing 12 banks. We used that hidden information as a bomb in mediation to get what we wanted. In the end, she got to keep the house and didn’t have to pay him anything for it, she got half the business, and she got spousal support for life. And maybe even more importantly, I helped her go from feeling beaten down to being totally transformed: She lost 50 pounds, started exercising and seeing a therapist, and was able to move on with her life.”—Shannon Hadeed