Divorce From A Recently Arrested Person

This is my first post, and it's a long one, so forgive any mistakes I may make. So, background information, I got married at 18, I'm currently 33. We have two children 12 and 6. I was a stay-at-home-mom most of the time, I started working part time last summer, and work full time as of October of this year. My husband was a band teacher up until this summer, and then started working full time with the national guard. My husband has been emotionally abusive, manipulative, and cheated on me throughout our relationship. He used suicide threats/self harm/firearms to try to force me to do what he wanted. He also has a drinking problem. I recently got some therapy and realized that I was experiencing some pretty serious domestic violence, and decided to get out of the relationship. I had been trying to get out for a while, but he kept convincing me to stay. On Feb. 1st, he finally agreed to a divorce. Our verbal agreement was that he would refinance the mortgage and buy me out of the house. He then said and did some things that were terrifying, and I went to Project Safe, and they advised me to get a protection order. On Feb. 10th that went into effect, and I was granted temporary custody of the kids with some visitation, and $1000/month in child support. That same day I discovered that he was under investigation for suspected inappropriate relationships with students while he was teaching. I had heard rumors, but hadn't believed any of it, but the last couple of years there was a lot of stuff that seemed a little bit weird, but he always had a reasonable explanation for it, so I believed him. I and my children moved into an empty house owned by a family member, as a temporary place until the divorce went through and I could take my share of the equity of our house and buy something else. There's a lot more going on, and I'm sure I'm missing some important plot points, but that essentially brings us to this week. On the 11th, he was arrested for sexual exploitation of a minor, along with a couple of redacted charges, due, I assume, to the age of the victims. The next day, it was all over social media, and I live in a small town, so everyone knows. I am kind of numb, other than being horrified that he would do this, and that I didn't know it was happening. His lawyer contacted me to let me know that he's no longer representing him, but, as a favor to me, the divorce papers are ready to file whenever I'm ready. Here is where I need advice. I don't know what to do about the house/bills/accounts. We are still legally married, so I will have to get all of that taken care of, despite the mortgage alone being over half my monthly paycheck. His account is overdrawn, and he was always careful not to let me have to much of the financial information, so I don't have any idea what usually gets paid and from where, or if he has money in another account. He owns a business as well, and I don't know what my responsibilities with that might be. I won't be getting child support, the kids will lose their insurance, ect. Our original agreement was to split the equity of the house, although we weren't sure how much we should each get. Would it be reasonable to wait to file the divorce until he is convicted and sentenced, so the divorce agreement can reflect the new reality? Or would it be smarter to file ASAP and cut ties as quickly as possible? Would it be fair to suggest selling the house, and me getting the majority of the money after paying off the mortgage, to make up for the lack of child support? Obviously, I will be pushing for full custody, regardless of the outcome of the trial. My daughter, at least, very much wants us to change our last names to anything else, to avoid that connection. How many rights does an incarcerated parent have?
I'm sure that there are about a hundred more things to consider, and I hope this whole thing makes sense. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I can't believe this is my life.
[link] [comments]