legends · 4 min read ·
Division of Property
A mediator's notes on a divorce settle the contents of a household, including a second husband.
**Fairweather Family Mediation — Session Notes (Mediator: C. Ainsley)**
**Parties:** Mr. Daniel Reyes and Ms. Leona Reyes · **Matter:** division of household contents following separation · **Session 3 of 4**
· · ·
**Agreed positions (Sessions 1 and 2)**
- The marital home to be sold. Proceeds divided equally.
- Savings to be divided equally.
- Pension to be addressed separately.
- Household contents to be itemised and divided by agreement.
· · ·
**Inventory (Session 3, joint)**
- **Item · Allocated to · Notes**
- Dining table (oak) · D
- Sofa (grey) · L
- Piano (upright) · L
- Television · D
- Bed (king) · L
- Books · Divided · By shelf
- Dog (Pickles) · L
- Husband · D and L · **See note**
· · ·
**Mediator's note (C. Ainsley)**
At item 8 the parties stopped. Ms. Reyes had written "Husband" on the inventory in her own hand. Mr. Reyes had initialled it. I asked what the entry meant. Mr. Reyes said, with some embarrassment, that it was a technicality.
I asked them to explain. Ms. Reyes said: "We both want him."
I said there was only one husband, and he was present. Mr. Reyes looked at his wife and then at me. He said: "I'm the one who is moving out. The other one is staying."
· · ·
**Mediator's note (continued)**
I asked what they meant by "the other one."
Ms. Reyes said that since the spring there had been two husbands in the house. They were identical in appearance, in voice, in habit. One was Daniel. The other lived in the house when Daniel was out. He cooked and cleaned and paid the bills. He slept in the bed. He had Daniel's memories, down to the smallest, but he had a quiet that Daniel did not.
She said: "I did not leave him because of Daniel. I left Daniel because of the other. I got tired of living with a man who is always there."
Mr. Reyes said: "I am the original. I know because I remember the day it happened. I went out for milk and when I came back he was in the kitchen."
· · ·
**Mediator's note (continued)**
I asked Mr. Reyes where he had been living. He said he had been staying in his brother's spare room since June. I asked Ms. Reyes whether the husband in the house had objected. She said the husband in the house did not object to anything.
I asked whether I could speak to the other. Ms. Reyes said that he was in the car park. I said I would go out. She said: "He'll come in when you ask."
I went out. In the car park there was a grey Volvo, with a man in the driver's seat. He wound down the window. His face was Mr. Reyes's face. His voice was Mr. Reyes's voice. He said: "Good afternoon. I assume you're the mediator."
· · ·
**Mediator's note (continued)**
We held a joint session, all four of us. The second Mr. Reyes was courteous, well dressed, and spoke only when addressed. He agreed to everything. He agreed to the sale of the house, to the division of the savings, to the pension. He agreed that the first Mr. Reyes should have the dining table and the television, and that Ms. Reyes should have the piano and the dog.
He was asked what he wanted for himself. He smiled. "To go on," he said. "That's all."
Mr. Reyes the First said nothing. He was watching his wife. She was watching the second. I thought, from her face, that she was weighing something.
· · ·
**Mediator's note (final, C. Ainsley, 30 Oct)**
Session 4 did not take place. I received a letter from Ms. Reyes. It said:
*Dear Mr. Ainsley, I have decided to keep the other husband. Daniel can have the table and the television, as agreed. The house is to be sold. I am going to live in a flat with the piano and the dog.*
*I enclose the inventory, signed by both of us. There is one amendment. In the "Husband" line, I have crossed out "D and L". In the Notes column I have written, in ink: "Whichever one comes home."*
*I should say that Daniel took it better than I expected. When I told him, he nodded. He took his coat from the peg and went out, and I watched him from the window. He walked down to the end of the road, and at the corner he stopped, and turned, and looked back.*
*He is standing there now. The other one has just gone out to join him. They are standing side by side, under the streetlamp. I can't tell which is which.*